Lucky Number Thirteen
by Heitomos
Summary: After the fight against Toffee, Star Butterfly tries to go back to a normal life. Her heartbreak over Marco is painful, but thankfully, she has good friends looking out for her.
1. Chapter 1

**Dramatis Personae**

 _Princess Star Butterfly_ : Mewni's fourteen-year-old, excitable, good natured, and _intense_ princess. Inheritor of the Wand of Mewni, she boasts considerable magical powers. Very protective of her friends, especially her best friend and would be crush, Marco Diaz. Has waist-length blonde hair held up with a devil horns hair band, and a pair of small pink hearts on her cheeks; a sign of her royal Mewni blood.

 _Marco Diaz_ : A fourteen-year-old boy from Earth. Cautious to an almost troublesome degree, he's not afraid to fight if need be. Best friends with Star Butterfly, and currently dating Jackie Lynn Thomas. Has brown hair, a red hoodie, and a winning smile.

 _Jackie Lynn Thomas_ : A tomboyish skater girl with a very peaceful and encouraging attitude. Loves the occasional thrill. Friend to Star Butterfly, and is currently dating Marco Diaz. Has short, wavy blonde hair with a light blue highlight.

 _Ludo_ : A monster native to Mewni, and former villain to Star Butterfly. His inept attempts at taking her wand was overthrown by Toffee, whom later possessed the little monster's body for his return. Doesn't talk much about that time. A small, green bird man wear a feathery black robe, a bull skull cap, and a rockin beard.

 _Queen Moon Butterfly_ : Queen of Mewni, and previous wielder of the Wand. Constantly tries to get Star, her daughter, to behave more like her. Has a large, blue, heart shaped hairdo with diamond markings on her cheeks, a sign of royal Mewni blood.

 _King River Butterfly_ : King of Mewni. A loud and spirited man, from whom his daughter inherited plenty of personality traits. Shorter than both his wife and daughter, he has a large blonde beard. Married into the royal family.

 _Princess Lilacia Pony Head_ : A disembodied, magical, floating unicorn head. Star's best friend before she came to Earth.

 _Janna Ordonia_ : The definition of laid back and chill. She met Star through detention, where she elected the girl to be Mayor of Detention. Wears a beige beanie and short skirt and pants. Likes the color pink, but her want to not conform to gender stereotypes makes it hard to admit this.

 _StarFan13_ : Star Butterfly's biggest fan. An excitable girl with a raspy voice that tries to emulate Star in any way she can. Has a fine set of braces, brown hair, as well as a papier mache devil horns hair band and hearts drawn on her cheeks.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Star looked out at her friends, an expression of sorrow on her face. Mixed in with the sadness was a wave of guilt, which peaked every time she looked at Jackie. Time and time again, Marco and Jackie had forgiven her for what she had done. She thought she was, at best, never coming back, and at worst... none of them wanted to think of those possibilities.

After Toffee's return, the princess had become terrified of what might happen, not just to herself, but to her friends, her family, and her kingdom. Her outburst during the party had been an act of desperation, one last chance to get it off of her chest. They understood that. But she still hated herself for it.

Janna, Jackie, StarFan13, and Pony Head all stood (or floated) in a semicircle in front of her, wanting to hear the story.

"So what happened!?" StarFan13 asked excitedly, always wanting to hear more about her idol.

Star sighed dejectedly, "Well... turns out, Ludo had taken my spell book, and the piece of my wand that Toffee, I don't know, did something too to become part of it. He used it to possess Ludo, take out the Magic High Commission, and even bring himself back to life. The battle was hard... He ruined my kingdom." She then allowed herself a small smile of pride, "But I got him. I don't think he'll be bothering anyone ever again."

"But what about Marco!?" The excited fan blurted out. She flinched as Janna and Pony Head glared at her. But it was Jackie that she turned to and said, "Sorry."

"It's fine, StarFan13." Jackie began, "He already told me the story. Marco's a good boy, and I trust him."

Star couldn't even begin to express how much she appreciated the skater-girl's chill attitude. It made her feel so much less guilty for what she had done, but not entirely free of it. It helped to make things easier.

"Well, it was just after I took out Toffee. Marco somehow got to Mewni, and we had a talk..."

* * *

Star was sitting quickly in her room, ramshackle though it was, after her battle with Toffee. She should be happy. Elated even. She killed the monster that threatened her kingdom, found her Butterfly form, and things were finally starting to get back to normal.

But, well, that was the thing.

Normal meant going back to Earth to continue her studies. It meant being able to see all of her Earth friends, see new places, and have all new and exciting adventures.

But it also meant going back and having to face Marco after what she did at the party.

In retrospect, she knew that she could have handled that a lot better. Confessing one's feelings to someone in front of their girlfriend was...

Star buried her head in her pillow and groaned, regret and heartache washing over her in equal measure. Then she heard a knock at the door.

"Go away!" She shouted, muffled, into her pillow.

A few moments later, the knock returned.

Grumbling to herself, she rose from her position on the bed. Whoever was on the other side of the door was about to be on the receiving end of the princess's frustrations.

With a grunt, she pulled open the door, "What do... You..." She deflated at the sight of him.

Marco was standing there, a sad smile on his face. And Star felt her mouth go dry.

"Hey, Star." He said before walking past her into the room. He was on a mission, on that he had to prepare himself for for days. "Come, have a seat." He added, sitting down on the bed and patting the spot beside him.

Numbly, the girl walked over and sat where she was told. She couldn't meet his eyes, not right now.

The boy took a deep breath. "Star... I'm going to open with an apology. I'm not sure you're going to want to talk to me after this, so I wanted to make sure I said it now." He then grew silent for a moment.

"What you did back at the party... I get it. I know why you said what you did, in front of all those people. Seeing the rubble around here, I get it. But... I can't. I just... don't like you that way, Star. You're my live-in best friend. And Jackie... I've been wanting to be with her my whole life, ever since I met her. It was like a dream come true when we started dating!" His eyes lit up for a moment, before turning to the ground, somber.

"I had no idea you felt the way you did. There's so much I would have done differently, said differently, if I had. God, how horrible must it have been for you at that concert?" His head fell into his hands for a moment, sighing. "I've been a huge jerk lately without even knowing it."

Star snapped to his defense, "No! You hav-"

Marco silenced her with a look. "... I know this isn't what you want to hear. I honestly wish this could have gone differently. But... Jackie makes me really happy, and I make her happy. It wouldn't be fair to anyone involved. Jackie would get hurt because I left her, I would be too. I'd also be dishonest or a two-timer for dumping a girl for someone else. And you... Would you ever really be happy knowing how much I care for Jackie? Knowing that I may only be doing it to make you feel better? That people had to get hurt for it?"

The princess stood still. A pregnant pause filled the room. And then she started to cry. "No." She said through checking sobs.

The boy's tremendous heart broke at the sight of the girl. He knew teenage romances were messy, but being part of it all was something else entirely. Everything left him with a bad taste in his mouth, and more guilt than he could deal with. He wanted so badly to help her, but he couldn't. He could only let her down as gently as he could.

And it sucked.

He put an unsteady hand on her shoulder, which made her flinch. Withdrawing his hand, he closed his eyes painfully. The damage had been done.

Without another word, he stood up, left the room, and closed the door behind him.

And there he stood. She could see his shadow beneath the door. He stayed there until she cried herself to sleep. Out of guilt, he had stayed and listened to what he had done. He wouldn't let her suffer alone.

* * *

"...and that's what happened."

Everyone looked to be tearing up a bit, aside from Jackie, who had heard the story before. Though that didn't mean she didn't feel for the girl.

Once the last word was said, all eyes turned to Jackie, who nodded and said, "Almost word for word. Too close to be made up and just different enough. Like I said, Marco's a good boy and I trust him."

Everyone turned back to the princess, "Dang Star... That's rough." Janna said, a lack of mirth in her voice. Then she looked to Jackie, "Uh, no offense."

The skater girl waved off the concern.

StarFan13 wore a confusing mix of emotions on her face, but snapped out of it when it seemed to be her 'turn' to speak, "While it sucks to have happened, I know you, Star! You so strong and cool. Something's going to come along and you'll be feeling better in no time!" She tried to say encouragingly.

Star smiled softly at her friend's words. Talking to them had helped a lot.

"Thanks girls..." The princess said. "Really, thanks for listening."

"Yeah gurl!" Said the disembodied unicorn head of Princess Lilacia Pony Head, Star's longtime friend.

"Anytime, Star! You don't even need to ask." StarFan13 leaned in, giving the Mewman another hug, which was returned warmly.

"Yeah, what she said. We might not know much about fighting crazy extra-dimensional threats like you, but teenage slash Earth boy drama, we got you there." Janna said, giving a small laugh. A moment later, something seemed to dawn on her. "You know… Maybe this is a culture thing, you know? Maybe you know how to deal with Mewni boys, but you haven't been around Earth boys that long."

Star seemed to give this a little thought as Janna paused, letting the idea settle in her friend's head, "I think I got an idea..." The delinquent continued.

"Oh? What is it?" The blonde asked.

"Well..."

* * *

A/N: I was never happy with the opening, so I've rewritten it. Additionally, moving this story to F/F. Thanks to cindermane for the sweet editing skills!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Plan**

Going back to school had some... difficulties, for Star. And that was putting it lightly. Considering that she had basically skipped out on school for two months without so much as a word to the faculty had almost landed her in permanent detention for the rest of the year. She had had a meeting with the principal for at least three hours as she argued that she was saving the world from evil, but he was having none of it. It wasn't until she had pulled out her dimensional scissors and taken a quick trip to get a note from her mother than he had let up, and even then, due to missed lessons, she was probably going to have to go to the dreaded 'summer school' that Janna had warned her about.

At least it meant some good learning about Earth stuff, which made it alright in her books. There was so much to learn about this great place, and apparently in more ways than one, as she'd been told at her slumber party.

* * *

Everyone at the slumber party was looking at Janna expectantly, her hanging words building a tension that had them waiting with bated breath.

"What I think you need, Star, is some Earth boy practice. Sometimes I forget you're a foreigner and don't always know how things work around here. We could get you up to speed on how things work on Earth so you can get it right with the next lucky guy."

The other girls in the room seemed to be thinking this over, unsure if it was a good idea, and Star shared their trepidation, "I don't know… I'm not sure I wanna deal with boy stuff again after…" She said, hugging her knees.

"Nah, don't worry about it. No actual boys will be harmed in the making of this film." Janna replied, earning a few giggles from StarFan13 and Jackie, and some confusion from Star and Pony Head, "Err… I mean, this is just going to be lessons, to help you get back out there and get over Marco. A few practice dates to help you learn the ropes. You need to understand the intricacies of dumb Earth relationships so you'll be ready the next time this happens."

Star blanched, her voice going quiet and dreadful, "Next time? This is going to happen again?"

"If I'm being honest, Mayor, probably. But that's just life, you know? You gotta roll with the punches that it throws your way sometimes."

Looking to her other friends, she could see them all nodding in consensus, except for Princess Pony Head, who seemed to be as skeptical as Star was.

"Well... if you think it'll help... I won't say no to that." She agreed, though her voice was filled with trepidation.

"Awesome! You just leave the planning to me. Jackie, StarFan13, come with me. We've got some planning to do. Pony Head, show our dear princess Star a good time time."

The others apparently agreed, her three human friends grabbing their things and heading out to the living room to plan, while Pony Head produced a pair of dimensional scissors and tore open a hole in reality. "C'mon gurl, letsh- Bluh." She said, trying to talk around the scissors before giving up and putting them away, "I know this wicked party going down that will totally cheer you up! You can find some hot, not dumb-Earth-boy guys to talk to. Those girls are nice and all, but I think we should do this our way."

"I don't know about that, Pony Head, but I think I could use a good party right now. Or a good fight. Either way." The thought of the party began to excite her, her face lighting up, "Yeah, let's do this! Come on, Pony Head! Woo!" She cried, leaping into the wound in reality itself to have some fun.

* * *

As it turned out, she had gotten her fight during that party, as a few goons started causing trouble around her, and it did wonders for venting a little steam. She had been feeling a lot better today, even after spending all morning with the principal, and she had her friends to thank for that, even if she hadn't seen her human ones since the night before.

As she went on her way to her next class, she stopped by her locker, and with a quick flick of her wrist, it was open. Her locker was wallpapered with pictures of her friends, most of which were of StarFan13, to return the gesture of her fan's own locker being covered with pictures of Star. One picture, that she'd taken down, was laying on the bottom of the locker, face down. Picking it up, she gave a bittersweet smile at the photo, one of her and Marco around the time when she first came to Earth. Using a fresh piece of tape she kept handy, she set it back in its place, and sighed wistfully.

"Hi Janna." Star said, closing her locker door and revealing the detention ridden teen leaning up against the next locker over.

"You're oddly attentive today. I was sure I'd at least make you jump." Said Janna, looking as cool and composed as ever.

Star giggled lightly, "Yeah, probably, but my uhh... time away kind of made me have to take things up a notch or two. It'll take a lot more than that to startle me."

"HI STAR!" Came a familiar cry from behind, startling Star enough to jump a few feet into the air.

The princess landed and turned towards the source. She almost reached for her wand, but the smiling face of StarFan13 quickly calmed her down. Then she heard the laughter.

"Oh, that was perfect! Hah!" Janna guffawed, and soon Star did as well. StarFan13 started laughing because her friends were, though not knowing why.

"Haaaa... What's up you two?" Star asked, wiping a tear from her eye as her giggle fit calmed.

"We got a plan together for you! Janna came up with most of it, but Jackie and I helped too!" Exclaimed StarFan13, her excitement a little more intense than usual.

"Yeah, took a little doing, but we got something together to help you get over Marco and learn about Earth dating. Ease you into things, you know? You need to come by my place tonight after school, and we'll give you the presentation." Said the part-time delinquent as she leaned up against the lockers.

Star didn't seem sure of whatever it was that her friends had come up with. She didn't know what it would all entail, but she wasn't sure if she was going to be ready for it, not after what happened with Marco. It'd been two months now, filled with danger, high action, and drama, which had distracted her well enough from her troubles, but bring back in school, living with him again; it made things hard.

But a spark of bravery and courage started to rise up within her at that moment. She couldn't keep being afraid, keep being hurt by something like this. She was Princess Star Butterfly, the mightiest of her kin to ever grace Mewni. She wasn't going to let something like this bog her down forever! SHe knew her friends were there for her, to ease her into the healing she needed.

"I'll be there." She said after a few moments of silence, a confident smile gracing her face.

"Awesome, Star. It'll be good to see you back to your old self again. You've been down in the dumps for way too long over this. Well, we'll see you tonight. Oh! Wait, don't show up until six, okay? We've gotta get something things ready after school first. Okay?" Janna asked.

The princess looked confused at first, especially since StarFan13 was looking even more excited than before, if that were possible. Still, she just shrugged her shoulders and nodded, "Sure thing. see you then!"

"Rock on, Mayor! Catch you later."

With a wave of her hand, Janna made her leave, StarFan13 following closely behind her, both whispering conspiratorially to themselves, the sound drowned out by the students moving around. the school.

The class bell soon rang out, breaking Star from her confusion, and she went on her way to class.

* * *

The final bell couldn't have come soon enough. A weird anticipation had built up inside of her throughout the afternoon, making it difficult to focus on her classes. That wasn't even mentioning the fact that she was going to see Marco again so soon. It was her third day back at school; the day before she went somewhere with Janna, and the day before that, she was in a meeting with the principal long after school was over. But this time, she couldn't avoid it no matter how much she wanted to.

With a sigh, she made her way to the front of the school and there he was, waiting for her with that same handsome smile he always had, adorned on his round, adorable face. And those eye-

"Hey! There you are." He said, his voice filled with mirth.

All too suddenly her thoughts came crashing down and she chided herself for staring. As much as she wanted it, it was just so, so hard to be rid of her feelings for him. She wasn't even sure if they were fading yet, despite the two months since that talk. But she was strong, and brave, and with her friends, she could get over this.

But that thought didn't make it any easier to deal with this.

"Heeeeey Marco! What are you doing here?" She said, putting on a strained smile, waving to the boy in the red hoodie.

"Umm... walking home with you? We do live at the same place, and staying in pairs is always safer."

"Riiiiight... I forgot." She said sheepishly, and walked past him, heading for home.

Marco sighed as he moved to keep pace with her down the sidewalk. "You're being really obvious, Star. I still bother you, don't I?"

"What? No! Of course not!" He gave her a long, hard stare. "Well..." She sighed, her smile fading. "It's just... it's really hard, Marco. I'm sorry. I've never... felt like this about anyone before. Not even Oscar. I... don't know how to deal with it." She said sadly.

Marco went silent for a few moments, closing his eyes for a brief moment of equal sadness, "I wish I could do more than make the problem worse for you. It's weird dealing with teenage hormones and thoughts again... even after all this time, I still forget that I shouldn't be as mature as this about feelings as I am, and I don't know how to help.

"But what I do know, is that I want to stay friends with you, no matter what. How about I just stay in my room for a while? If you start seeing me less it will make things easier. I don't even- Star, get down!"

Marco slapped a hand on Star's shoulder and suddenly pushed her into a crouch. Before she could even wonder what he was doing, a large boulder smashed into the grass nearby. That would have hurt. She turned to look at who had thrown it, and her eyes widened.

Standing there was a gang of monster that she was quite familiar with, and at the front, standing on top of his spider's head.

"Ludo!"

* * *

A/N: Second chapter up. Looking for a beta reader. If anyone spots any inconsistencies, grammar/spelling, etc. mistakes please let me know. Someone pointed out to me that the story is kind of depressing, but I promise a slow but steady incline of positivity from here on out. I'm also forgoing paragraph indentation due to how difficult it is to import them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She hadn't seen Ludo since before the whole mess with Toffee began. From what she'd been told by her mother, her once arch-nemesis' body was taken over completely but the Immortal Monster, perhaps even during her final confrontation with him. However, despite all of this, the little green bird monster no worse for wear, and if nothing else, back in his prime, and back to his old ways. He had even made a copy of his old robes, and gotten a new bull skull cap. He'd kept the beard though.

She really didn't need this right now. Or, maybe she did. "I thought you were gone, Ludo." She said to him, an edge in her voice.

From behind a small mob of monsters, atop his standing spider's head, he replied, "Rumours of my passing were... greatly exaggerated."

Marco paused a moment, "Seriously? You're using that line?" He deadpanned.

"What? It's a classic! Grr, never mind! My time with Glossaryck taught me a few lessons from which I have learned considerably. I want to return to my former glory, and then exceed it!" His fists clenched as passion in his speech rose, "While I don't have a wand of my own, I know how to do magic! And, more importantly, I know how to learn, especially from my mistakes. And that's why I'm here, Star Butterfly! Me and my posse won't be able to defeat you as we are. But! I intend... to take notes."

As he finished speaking, from behind his neck shawl, he pulled a pencil and notepad, of all things. Thrusting the eraser end of the pencil towards Star and Marco, he shouted, "Get them!"

As one, the mob leaped forward. It was the standard tactic they always used, the one that Star and Marco could see coming from a mile away these days. Splitting up, the boy jumped to the left while the girl jumped right, stopping the monsters from surrounding them and splitting up the mob.

Now that the mob was in manageable chunks, the red belt moved into a defensive stance. The monsters charged him, and he let out a war cry that he picked up from King Butterfly during, and his foot met the chin of the enemy unfortunate to be too close. With one down, the resulting fight was a messy melee of flying, red clothed limbs and monster bruises.

Star, meanwhile, fired blast after blast of strange creatures at her foes. Narwhals, Warnicorns, and Rainbows pelted the monsters, causing them to be a sea of pained yelps instead of formidable opponents. Her mind was clear as she fought, a sudden clarity of purpose and action filled her. Gone were the thoughts of heartbreak and boy troubles. Gone were the terrors she had faced against Toffee. There was only a by the numbers street fight.

And Star smiled.

What neither of the teens noticed, however, was that Ludo was taking notes. Every time he saw one of his minions trip over each other. Every time Marco performed some karate move that downed another for the count. Every time Star managed to score a two for one with her Narwhal Blast because they were standing in a line. He made a note of it.

And Ludo smiled.

Suddenly, a crack echoed out as he slammed his note pad shut, cause all present to freeze and look at him. Noticing this, he quickly opened the notepad and wrote something down.

"Enough! You've won this time, Star Butterfly, but you have also played right into my hand! Soon, you wand will be mine!" Ludo cackled, clenching the notepad in his fist. "Minions! Retreat! You've earned yourselves a spa day!"

Before either of the teens could react, Ludo pulled a pair of Dimensional Scissors out from under his shawl, and tore open a hole in reality. Courteously, for a change, he let his monsters through the opening first.

"See you next time, Star Butterfly! Muahahaha!"

And just like that, he was gone, leaving the teens in a state of adrenaline fueled confusion.

"Was that... a little random to you?" Asked Marco.

"Yeah... just a little bit. But, hey, that was actually pretty fun! I almost forgot what it was like to have such an easy fight. It was... what's the word..."

"Therapeutic?"

"Yeah! That one!"

Marco chuckled and put his hands into his hoodie pockets. "At least we made it out alright. But did he seem different to you? He wasn't talking about all of his usual."

"That was a little strange... But that's fine. It's just Ludo. I mean, what could he possibly do?"

"I wouldn't underestimate him, Star. Who knows just what he's been up too since Toffee happened. He did seem to be taking a lot of notes. Maybe he's decided to try and be a better villain?"

"Psssh. In his dreams." Star dismissed, a giggle in her voice.

The buzzing adrenaline from the fight managed to carry her all the way back to the house without once thinking about her Marco troubles. At least, until this realization brought it all back at the front door. She turned her head awkwardly towards the object of her... Affections and despair alike, if she was being honest with herself. The latter would ease the former over time, she knew, and she couldn't wait for it. Then maybe things could go back to how they used to be.

Marco was more perceptive than she... No, that was a lie, she knew that he was more perceptive than she gave him credit for. She heard him sigh, "Look... I'm sorry, Star. I know this is awkward and painful, but you'll get through this. I'll start walking home on my own for the next little while, and give you your space. Well, as much as I can give considering where we live." He said, a small smile on his face.

Star gave a small giggle, the tension within her breaking a little. "Yeeeeah... I'm sorry, about all of this, Marco." She began, opening the door and stepping inside, "But, there might be some good news. The girls wanna help me over all this, so they're doing something tonight. No idea what though..."

"That's awesome, Star! Friends who aren't me are what you need right now, and it's cool that they're trying to help you." He said, carefully not saying that he was going to be asking Jackie about that later when they were alone. He knew that was a sensitive topic for Star right now, and he didn't want to upset her further.

The blonde girl smiled at this, looking back up at him. "Yeah, the girls are pretty great, aren't they? I just hope whatever they have planned works out. Well... I think I'm going to head up to my room for now. I'm going to try out a new spell I thought up at school and get started on writing it in my new spellbook. I'm leaving at a little after six though." She said, letting him know just in case he worried.

He just gave that trademark smile of his, one that seemed to light up the room and showed that he understood her completely. "I gotcha. Good luck with the spell then. Just... don't blow up the house again." Marco said, a hint of complaining and exasperation in his voice.

"Psh! Marcoooo, you know I've gotten better at that! I will contain any explosions to my room." She promised, before giving a small giggle and running off upstairs.

Her door was open and shut in a second as she isolated herself from the outside. She took a deep, shaky breath as she tried to calm her nerves. Her face grew angry, her hand balling into a fist as she brought it down and harshly punched her own thigh. This was getting ridiculous. She was getting angry at herself for how much she was letting this affect her; affect her friends; affect Marco. She knew she was being stupid and couldn't help it and it was starting to drive her crazy.

Another calming breath brought her simmering anger down... And made her fully aware of the pain her leg from the punch. "Ow. Stupid." She sighed, walking over to her bedroom vanity, upon which lay her spellbook.

While her first draft was good and all, she had eventually filled the small tome's pages, and asked her mother for a properly sized magic book, one with more pages in it than should be able to fit. She opened it to a fresh, blank page, grabbed her pen and...

And she realized that she had lied about having come up with a new spell, an excuse to get away from Marco. Anger flared up again as she slammed the book shut and threw the pen across the room. The blonde grabbed her pair of dimensional scissors and with a flourish, tore reality a new one as she made a portal to an empty barren canyon, near where Kelly always liked to hang out. She secured her wand to her belt, and stepped through the threshold.

It was warm here. And dry. Very dry. But, more importantly, she was alone, and surrounded by rocks in dire need of smashing.

The canyon echoed the sounds of a war as Star blew off some steam.

* * *

It was 6:30 by the time that Star had finished packing up her things for the sleepover. After having a nice shower to get all of that canyon dust out of her hair, she actually found herself feeling much better. Excited even. It had been a while since she had felt properly happy; the venting had certainly done its job.

It did make her tired, though, expending much of her magic and energy, and she hoped the girls would forgive her for turning in a little early. After one last check of her things, she brought out her phone and she dialed Janna's number.

Two rings later, a familiar voice picked up the phone. "Hey Mayor, what's up?"

"Hey Janna! Mind if I come over early? I got everything all ready and I'm excited!"

Janna laughed at her friend's exuberance. "Yeah, I think we're about ready anyway. I'll head downstairs to let you in there now." She said, before hanging up abruptly.

Grabbing her scissors again, and slinging her pack over her shoulder, Star once again sliced open the fabric of reality, and one step later, she was outside of Janna's door. Just in time for it to open. "Hey girl. Get your fine self in here." Said Janna, ushering in her guest.

The two walked up the stairs, with Star taking the lead. As he stepped into Janna's moderately spacious bedroom, she could see Jackie and Princess Pony Head, standing and floating, respectively, next to a board covered in a cloth.

"Wwwwwwwhat's going on here?" She asked, staring at the two.

"Don't you worry gurl. We got somethin' fiiiine in store for you! Well, I think it's dumb, but these Earth girls think it's tight." Replied Pony Head.

Jackie glared at Pony Head, before turning back to smile at Star. "Have a seat. We're going to go over the steps to help you make a healthy recovery, and get you ready for how to deal with Earthling relationships."

With a flourish, Janna walked over to the board and stole away the cloth, revealing a board underneath with a lot of doodles in the margins, but with clear text written in the middle.

 **The JJPS Plan To Help Star**

Star noted that handwriting belonging to a certain princess that was not her had finished writing out her whole name above the S in JJPS. Her eyes soon turned to the list of five objectives listed below it. She gulped.

With a lazy grin on her face, Janna announced, "Here is our five step plan to teach you Earth stuff. JJPS presents: Five Practice Dates To Help Star Get Over Marco and Learn Earth Dating. Title's a work in progress."

* * *

A/N: Work is taking up a lot of my time, but thankfully I still have a buffer. I hope to catch up again. Please let me know if I did something particularly wrong spelling/grammar/continuity wise. I appreciate any feedback.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Star Butterfly stared blankly at the board in front of her. Namely, she was staring at step number five. A sense of dread at the prospect of it sent chills down her spine.

"After talking it out," Janna began, "we decided that the best way to help teach you what you need to know, is by practical examples.

"We worked it out, and we picked the most general date ideas for you to try. First off, dinner and a movie. This is the two most basic and common Earth dates rolled into one. Decent restaurant, decent movie. The second date will be a date at the carnival, see how you handle thrills and winning prizes. The third date will be doing something you like, like a pastime or something. Share your interests and what makes you, you kinda thing. Fourth is about your date, doing something they like. We're still working on that one, since it _is_ just for practice. And finally..."

Everyone looked a little uncertain about this one, except for Janna. "This one was my idea. It's gunna be harsh, but you need to accept facts. Jackie's willing, which means Marco is probably willing. We won't force you, but I think it'll help."

Star felt her heart rate stutter, a sense of dread seeping into her gut as she started at step number five.

 **5) Double Date With Jackie and Marco.**

That was the last thing she wanted right now. Watching the two of them kissing at the concert was hard enough for her to handle. It's what pushed her over the edge to confess to him in the first place. But having to sit down, for a prolonged period of time, and watching the two of them on a date while also pretending to date someone else? That sounded like too much for her to bear.

"I know it looks bad, but trust us. You'll be ready for step number five once you get through all of the others. If anything the time it takes will do something. Because of the terribleness of school life, each date is taking place on a Saturday, unless you and your date work out something else."

Star didn't seem too mollified by this, but, Janna's words did bring a question to mind. "Wait so... who's going to be my date? Oskar? Justin? Alfonzo?" She asked, listing off a few boys names that she figured her friends might have tried talking into this. She wasn't sure she'd be happy with any of them.

At this, both Janna and Jackie grinned, while Pony Head just rolled her eyes. Clearly the other princess didn't like the idea, whatever it was. "I'm glad you asked, mayor. Jackie, this was your job. You can do the honors."

Nodding, almost giddily, Jackie went over to the bathroom attached to Janna's room, and knocked on the door. "We're ready for you now." She called, cupping her hand to the door. Then, with a flourish, she held her hands up to the door. "May I present to you, your date to be."

The door opened, revealing a pitch black bathroom. As her anticipation mounted, Star could see a silhouette of someone standing in the doorframe. The figure was taller than she was, by a little bit, and was a little on the thin side. This ruled out a few boys she knew, but before she could make a guess, the light came on.

Stand there, in the door frame, hand currently on the unseen lightswitch, was StarFan13, dressed up in a simple, yet formal outfit, including a polo shirt and corduroy pants. It was obvious the clothes belonged to a boy her age, as the cloth around the shoulders hung limply and the pants were quite baggy. To top it all off, she had removed her hair band and the heart makeup on her cheeks, and most prominently of all, had a small, fake, mustache just above her incredibly wide, almost proud smile.

Star couldn't handle it, and put fingers to her lips as she tried, and failed, to suppress an eruption of giggles. Thankfully, StarFan13 joined in the giggle fit.

"S-so, you- Pffft!" She tried to speak, but couldn't. For some reason the moustache just filled her with giggles. "T-The moustache! I can't!" She managed to get out.

"Hee-hee! I told you it was too much, Jackie." StarFan13 said, pulling off the fake moustache.

"Oh come on! It looks nice. And I didn't know any other way to hide the more girlish features of your face. And moustaches are the most boy thing a face can have."

It took a moment, but Star finally calmed down enough to actually speak. After a deep, calming breath, she spoke, "I was actually really nervous for a while, but, knowing it's a friend helps a lot. You're gunna be my pretend date, huh?"

"Yup!" StarFan13 said proudly, "StarFan13 is no more, now, I am StarMan!" She flexed her arms. "At least, I will be this weekend."

Another laugh bubbled out of the princess as she looked over her 'date' to be. "Alright, I think the idea is kinda crazy, but if you guys say that this is going to help, then... Well, after all the work you put into it, I can't turn you down."

"Yass!" StarFan13 cheered, doing a little pirouette in celebration. Suddenly she coughed, and deepened her voice, "I mean, excellent madame. I will be an honour to take you out."

To everyone's credit, they lasted a whole three seconds before everyone in the room devolved into various states of giggling.

"Well, we've made progress. And since Star has accepted our proposition, it's time to move on to the next order of business." Janna said, sitting on her bed.

"What's tha-" Star words were interrupted as a pillow hit her squarely in the face.

The pillow slid down her now disheveled face, and right into her hands.

"Oh. It. Is. On!"

* * *

She stared at the clock. It was ticking by so very, very slowly. And she was bored. So very, very bored. That it was last period with Ms. Skullnick certainly didn't help.

The week had been going by slowly, and while it was Friday, she had been anticipating the weekend ever since the sleepover at Janna's. The intervening days had let her warm up to the idea more than just 'do it because her friends wanted her to', and she even found herself excited for it. StarFan13 was an odd choice, but at the same time, it made sense. While they all worked on it together, Janna had been the mastermind behind it all, and was going to be handling most of the planning. It was too much to ask her to be Star's fake date as well. Jackie was already dating Marco, and it was still awkward to be alone with her, whenever they met up in the school halls. And Pony Head, well, wasn't an Earthling, which defeated the purpose.

Which left StarFan13. Which eased her nerves a lot. If it had been an actual boy, she was afraid she might end up on the far ends of the creeped out to drooling spectrum, like when she'd become infatuated with Oskar. With the other girl, she could actually focus on learning Earth dating; or at least, she hoped so. Earth dating was weird... so much different than Mewni.

The Princess almost jumped out of her seat when the bell rang, but kept a respectable pace just in case Ms. Skullnick decided she was in an extra special bad mood today. The moment she turned the corner on the door, her legs picked up into a sprint to the front door. She had no real destination in mind, she just wanted to be somewhere else, doing anything else.

The nervous energy one feels when an event was going to happen, for good or for ill, filled her body throughout the week, and with the 'date' happening tomorrow, it was at it's peak.

Her escape from the school was much faster than she realized, and she was already off school property by the time Janna and Marco had made it to the entrance, missing them both.

She wandered through the streets of the town aimlessly, simply taking in the sights and the sounds. It had been some time since she just enjoyed the wonders Earth and its inhabitants without her friends as a filter. Just pure, unadulterated life, and the appreciation of it. She smiled, her carefree spirit soon forgetting her woes and nervousness and simple being, letting her enjoy the world around her.

So caught up in her simple enjoyment that she didn't notice someone suddenly appearing in front of her. With a sudden crash and a mutual outcry of surprise and mild pain, Star found herself on the ground, looking at someone she was quite familiar with.

Everything she was trying to avoid caught up with her again, and her mood fouled. But she wouldn't let that make her rude, "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you okay, Oskar?" She asked, getting up and helping him up as well.

She had talked to the boy the night when all of her troubles had come to their heavy hearted conclusion, and being a previous crush certainly didn't help matter either.

He took her offered hand and stood up, dusting himself off. "Don't worry about it, Star." His face took on a slightly red hue as he let go of her hand suddenly, having realized he hadn't let go. "The same thing used to happen to me all the time before I got my hair cut. Guess it's still bound to happen, huh?"

"Y-Yeah..." She said awkwardly, shying away from him. "Look, Oskar, it's nice to see you again, it is, but... I have to go. I'll talk to you again soon, promise."

"O-okay..." He replied as she ran off, hand extended with a confused expression on his face.

She was finally starting to feel happy again, and once again, it all came crashing down once it was brought to her attention. She cursed herself for running like she was doing, but she just couldn't help it. She had to just leave it all.

Dipping into her school bag, she pulled out her dimensional scissors, and with a quick swipe, she was gone.

* * *

Ludo smiled at his work. It had taken some time, and a lot of effort on his part, but his work was nearly complete.

His attempted ambush for the princess had gone exactly according to plan. His notes on the event were extensive enough to start running drills with his monsters. But, moreso, it helped him feel back in the game and ready to finish up a much larger project; his new castle.

His last evil lairs had been blown up, and it had taken some doing, but he was on track for building his third. And this one was going to be so much better! The first thing he ordered was security cameras everywhere, so that when Star Butterfly inevitably tried to take him on on his home turf, if he failed, he'd at least have some good footage of the fight to train his minions with.

Said minions were currently working on the construction of his new castle, and, unlike before, he was genuinely helping them. He played more of a supervisory role, to be sure, but he did little things, like handing out tools and little sandwiches. Treating his minions like dirt was what lead Buff Frog to side with Star back when he had his first castle. He wouldn't be making that mistake again. This time, he was going to win the love of his minions of evil!

The little bird monster was handing out another sandwich when the sound of fighting reached his ears.

"What's going on? If you lot are roughhousing, I'm going to have to be firm with you!" He warned, stomping off towards the commotion, "You two, mind helping me out with this?" He asked two of his minions, who dutifully agreed.

Being nicer to your minions removed the few seconds of terror they experienced whenever you asked them to do something. Much more efficient.

Just as he started around the corner, however, the sight of one his minions flying across the hall, nearly hitting him, thanks to a blast of angry looking narwhals. "Star Butterfly!?" He shouted in surprised, looking around for wherever the girl might be.

A moment later, the princess rounded the corner, and she looked mad. He wasn't sure why, he hadn't done anything since that ambush earlier in the week, and that never provoked much of a response before.

"What do you think you're doing, breaking into my home and assaulting my minions? That one hasn't even done anything! He's just a carpenter!" He shouted at her.

Star, who had been charging up a spell, suddenly stopped. "He... what?" She asked, confused.

"That one is perfectly innocent, as far as I know. And you just came in here and beat him up! Heroes aren't supposed to do that. I'm evil, and even I don't attack random civilians. Well, I mean, there's that red shirt fellow, but only because he's around you so much!" He didn't catch the mild hypocrisy of his words.

Star faltered, and stuttered, "But... I know you're up to something!" She said, trying to justify her tirade.

"I am not! I mean... wait, yes, I am!" He started cackling to himself. "If you're willing to calm down and not destroy my castle before it's even built. I'd like to invite you... for tea." He said, as maliciously as he could manage.

"...tea?"

Even his minions looked a little stunned at that. "Yes, tea! I'm trying to become a better villain, and all the good villains are ones that act all suave and have tea with the goody-goods. Come! I made sure the dining hall was built first so that I'd have a place to eat, so it'll work for this. Don't worry, I haven't had time to have the booby traps installed yet."

With that, he made his way to the dining hall, and the princess followed, suspicion dripping from the whole of her body.

It didn't take long for the two of them to arrive, at the hall, and after a brief wait for the tea to be made, Ludo and Star found themselves sitting at either end of a long table. A very long table.

"Now I umm... I haven't had a chance to practice yet." Ludo admitted, trying to find his words.

"What?" Came a yell from Star, who was too far away to hear him.

Ludo slammed his head on the table, and pulled out his notepad and pen. "Note to self, short tables for hero-villain banter." Grabbing his tea, he moved to Star's end of the table, sitting just to the side of her. "Sorry, I'm still learning this stuff. This should make for good practice! Do you mind sitting across from me? It'll make it more dramatic."

"Oooookaaaaay..." The princess replied uneasily, moving across from the bird monster. She had no idea what was going on right now.

"Now, look. I'm going to be trying a new brand of evil, rework the things that didn't work and try to have more fun with it. This means doing certain things by the rules. I haven't worked out what I want those rules to be yet, but I know I want to be the kind of bad guy that can have tea with you, shake hands, make deals. Professional, if you will." He explained, after gathering his thoughts.

"That... doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I mean, I can't exactly trust you. You've been trying to steal my wand for a year now."

"Yes! And I will continue to do so, but I'm going to go about it in a different way. I want to be nicer, I want to feel... loved, by my minions. I want to conquer some places, take them over, but not be outright hated. That's only lead to misery for everybody." He admitted soberly.

"I mean... yeah. It kind of has. Maybe you're on the right track." If he played by rules, at the very least, Star might have to worry about him less. It could even make him easier to beat in the end. If she was going to have an archvillain again so soon, having a somewhat reformed Ludo be that might make her life just that much easier.

"I know!" He was proud of himself, that much was obvious. "But, anyway, let's get on with the uhh... right! The business at hand." He began, steepling his fingers and trying to look ominous. "Why did you attack my castle? It's not like you."

Star hesitated, her words choking in her as she felt a deep shame. "I... don't have a good reason. I was upset, and you... fighting you is like an old normal, so I thought that if I came here, things might go back to the way they used to me." She said somberly.

Ludo wasn't expecting that. "That's... I don't know what to say about that. While that's not very fair of you, I did ambush you earlier this week. We'll call it square. In fact, how about this as a first deal! If I attack you, you can retaliate in kind, and I'll call it fair, and continue to play fair. I'll forget this whole thing happened, and I can go back to my castle building, and you can... do whatever it is you do when I'm not involved."

Star thought this over for a moment. It was silly, yes, but it also made her worried about what he meant by playing fair; or rather, what not playing fair meant. It seemed like a fair deal, though, but while they were making deals... "Alright. Not bad... I can agree to that. But! I have another deal I want to make." She started, watching at Ludo extended his hand, and froze at her 'but'. "I won't attack your castle anymore until you're finished with it, IF you give me notice on say... your next three attacks."

"What! Three? That's just absurd! I would never! I..." Ludo calmed himself, taking a deep breath. He could work with this. "Considering how vulnerable my castle is like this, I think that's fair. But only one!"

"Two."

Ludo seethed. This negotiating with the hero thing wasn't like he'd dreamed. But then an idea came to mind. He had to do a few more practice bouts with the princess after all. Quite a few, according to his plan. It wouldn't matter if she was prepared or not, as long as he got to know her fighting moves better. This would make for good practice. "Deal." He said, extending his hand.

They shook on it.

"This wasn't so bad." He said, taking a sip of his tea. "Good practice for when we do this next time."

"Next time?" She replied, finally taking a sip herself, no longer concerned that it might be poisoned or something.

"Yes! We have to have at least two more of these. I think. At least one, when I explain my plans while I have you at my mercy!" He cackled loudly, hands raised in the air.

Star gave a small giggle at that. She still didn't consider him much of a threat, past events considered. "Sure. And... sorry for lashing out like this. I mean that. This... was weird. But it help. Thanks." She said, getting up and grabbing her scissors.

"Thanks? I think I've gotten ahead of myself." He pulled out his notepad and flipped through some pages. "I'm not set to do that dark deal with the villain until-"

He didn't get to finish as Star stepped through a portal.

Rude.

* * *

A/N: A lengthier Chapter this time. Due to illness I'm getting a little behind, but I'm almost done Chapter 6 and about to start Chapter 7. I hope you enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The talk with Ludo had been... weird, to say the least. Still, Star felt oddly better after all of it, despite her shameful outburst against potentially innocent monsters. She really only had Ludo's word to go on, but he didn't seem to be lying to her at all the whole time she was there, and she was a little inclined to believe him.

She had passed out as soon as she got home, less because of the fight with Ludo's minions, and more so the sobering shame that came with the conversation afterwards. Without her nervousness over the 'date', which she was still skeptical about, buzzing in her mind, days of lost sleep and nervous energy suddenly caught up to her, and she crashed.

The next morning, she found herself with a newfound clarity. Things just seemed to make more sense; it felt like the war between her conflicting emotions was finally over, or at least, having a ceasefire.

For the first time in a while, her outlook on life was back to its bright and bold self, like everything in front of her was going to be just great. Nothing was going to stop her from having a good day!

Her phoned beeped, stopping her train of thought.

She popped it open. It was from Janna.

 **Janna:** What movies you like

Star loved most Earth movies. That'd she'd seen anyway. But even if she saw a bad one, she'd enjoy the learning the experience.

 **Star:** all of thm!

Star's autocorrect was lacking compared to Janna's.

 **Janna:** Sweet stop by at 5

 **Star:** got it!

With how much she'd slept in, which wasn't much, because sleeping was less time to enjoy the world around her, she had nearly eight hours to kill. What to do?

On days where she couldn't think of what she wanted to do, she typically just went outside and explored. This often lead to something nabbing her attention and taking her on an adventure, even if the adventure was just meeting someone new.

And so, she explored. After brushing her teeth and some breakfast of course.

With her typical day to day gear on, Star set out for a day on the town. She was in much higher spirits this time around, walking through the streets, greeting everyone she came across with a bright smile and a little wave if they made eye contact. The town seemed to be getting used to her, and some faces were even familiar to her, even if she'd never spoken to the person. It was interesting how this place was becoming her second home, instead of just a foreign exchange student arrangement.

She felt like she had become a proper and loved member of the town, the people having accepted her into their fold, despite being an alien of sorts. It was amazing just how friendly some Earthlings could be.

It was then that she spotted him, sitting on a bench and playing his keytar, wide-eyed and chipper as ever.

"Oh! Oskar, hi!" Star said, waving to him energetically and smiling brightly.

The wide-eyed boy looked up in surprise, "Oh! How's it going, Star?"

"Not bad, just killing some time. Say... I wanna say sorry about yesterday. I was having a pretty off day and needed to run. Forgive me?" She said, putting her hands together pleadingly.

Oskar chuckled lightly and waved her off, "Don't worry about it Star, I get you. Things can be pretty rough sometimes. Just look on the bright side, you found me today, and you're in a better mood, so we can make up for missed time." He said happily.

Star giggled, "Sure thing." Taking a glance to the bench, she decided to sit next to him. "How's your music coming along?"

"Not too bad if I do say so myself." He began, starting to tell of his exploits as a musical dropout.

* * *

The two laughed jovially to one another, at a joke passers by could barely understand. "That's amazing! I never would have thought!" Said Star, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I know right? It was such a surprise." Replied Oskar, beaming next to her.

"But how did-" Star was about to ask for a little clarification, when her phone beeped, interrupting her from the conversation.

"Who's that?" The wide-eyed boy asked.

She pulled out her phone, "It's... oh my gosh! It's past 5:30 already!?" She exclaimed. "I'm late! I can't believe we've been talking for so long." Her stomach grumbled, "Glad I'm going to dinner tonight." She muttered.

"Dinner?" Oskar asked curiously.

"Yeah, Janna and the girls are trying to help me learn about Earth dating, so they've got me doing some silly practice dates with StarFan13." She chuckled, saying it like it was embarrassingly silly.

The boy's eyebrow raised, "Really now? Is this the first one?"

"Yeah, and I'd love to tell you more about it, but I'm already way late. I'll see you around, Oskar!" She said, waving to him as she pulled out her scissors.

Before he could get in another word, she had already tore open a hole in space and hopped through, leaving the wide-eyed boy behind.

He had had fun talking to her. The practice dates... maybe he'd have to speak with Janna some time.

* * *

It was 6:03 by the time that Star rang Janna's doorbell, out of breath and feeling a little exhausted. It had been a mad scramble to get ready after the text from Janna interrupted her time with Oskar. Once she was home, she sent a quick apology to her, and then got ready as quickly as she could. Her makeup was lightly done, her outfit was what one might deem 'nicer' than her usual school clothes, being a little longer in dress and made of more flattering materials. The only thing she still kept on was her devil horn hair band, which had become her trademark, of sorts.

Janna appeared soon after the doorbell, a small scowl on her face. "Well, now I'm glad that I asked you to come here an hour too early, just in case. Impromptu first rule of Earth dating, don't be late to the first date. Or any, but especially the first." Ordonia warned, before settling into a small smile.

"I'm sooooo sorry, Janna! I really am!" Star pleaded, putting her hands together, "I just got really caught up talking to Oskar." A blush crossed her face, but whether or was out of embarrassment or something else, even she didn't know.

This made the beanie wearing girl frown again, "Rule number two, don't be late because you were talking up another guy. Now come on, Fan's upstairs getting ready. Jackie's putting on the final touches now."

Together, they took the stairs up to Janna's bedroom. Pony Head was nowhere to be seen, but Star could see Jackie standing behind a chair, tending to a boy's hai- wait a minute.

"Woah, StarFan13?" Star asked.

The 'boy' meant to be her practice date for the evening was not a boy at all, but looked quite a lot like one. Made easier by her younger age, only recently turning fourteen, StarFan13 wore a pair of slack jeans that were almost too big for her, and a formal polo shirt to match. Her glasses were gone, replaced with contact lenses, if the lense case on the vanity was any indication, and her usual makeup was gone. The painted hearts on her cheeks were gone, as well as any of the other makeup she usually wore, aside from a little cover up. And, thanks to a little work from Jackie, her hair was really short.

"Oh! Hi Sta- uh I mean... Hello, Star." The girl replied, quickly switching to a somewhat deeper voice. It was still obvious, but she tried.

"You cut your hair!" Star gasped.

Jackie chimed in next, "Nah. I just know a few hair tricks from my aunt. It'll be a little big in the back, but with some hidden hair clips, you'd be surprised how much hair you can tuck away." She said, putting another clip in place.

Indeed, StarFan13's hair ended in a smooth curl, suggesting it was tucked up and into itself with hidden clips. "Wooooow... you guys are really going all out for me, huh?"

"Oh course we are, Star! We're your friends. You'd do the same for us." StarFan13 replied, getting up once Jackie was finished. "So... how do I look?" She asked sheepishly.

The princess looked her up and down, taking in the look. "Well, if I'm being honest, I thought you were a boy for a second when I walked in, so really good job!" She said, putting her thumb up and smiling.

StarFan13 beamed at the praise, and Jackie nodded in pride at her work.

"You two have fun now. I've done my part. Give me the deets tomorrow." The skater girl said, hugging each of her friends in turn.

"Will do, skater girl. Later." Janna waved, watching Jackie go down the stairs, Star and StarFan13 shouting small goodnights. "Alright ladi- lady and gentlemen." She corrected herself. "The dinner you will be having is at Mario's. Halfway between fast food and fancy restaurant. Then you've got a choice of three movies all starting around the same time, so I'll let you two pick one, but you want to do one you'll both enjoy. Typically the movie is a romance flick, but the guy always hates those, so I think it's best to pick what you both like enough to watch."

Star listened intently, going over the beats. Romance movies were okay, but a good action really got the blood pumping! StarFan13 didn't pay as much attention, instead grabbing her stuff, having been part of the plan from the get go.

The blonde princess turned to her 'date' for the evening, "Alright then, _Starman_ , shall we?" She asked, holding out her hand and giggling.

'Starman' took it and smiled back. She put on her deep voice again, "Let's, milady."

The two shared a laugh, and headed downstairs, hand in hand, while Janna got some papers and a pen ready. She had to take some notes when they were done.

* * *

A/N: A short one again, but I got it out nonetheless. The next one is longer, and the one after is gunna be shorter again. Thanks to cindermane for beta reading my story. Go check them out!


	6. Chapter 6

Hand in hand, the blonde princess and her date made their way to the restaurant. And it was a good thing they were headed to eat first; Star was starving!

Star giggled, and StarFan13 looked towards her, "What's got you giggling?" She asked with a giggle of her own.

"Oh, nothing much, just a little joke in my head." Star explained, waving off the other girl with her free hand, "Have you ever eaten at the place we're going to?" She asked, having already forgotten the name of the restaurant they were going to.

"Once I think, when I was like, seven. I don't really remember it, but Jackie really talked it up." StarFan13 explained, "We got enough to cover most meals there too, so you can pick whatever you want!" She added cheerfully.

Star gasped, "What! No, there's no way I could ask you to pay."

"It's part of the date. For the longest time, it was the guy who paid for the meal. Janna wanted to be more progressive, but Jackie fought for the classics. So, as the 'guy', I'll be paying." The bubbly brunette explained.

"Ohhhh! Still, that's kinda dumb. You guys are doing me such a big favour already, the least I could do is pay for the dates." She was a princess after all, and had plenty of money from her parents to help her in the day to day life.

"Hee-hee, well, let's see what happens, in any case."

"We shall!"

The two girls chatted cheerfully as they walked down the streets. As they did, several people turned their heads, noticing a girl's voice coming from StarFan13, the momentary shock a testament to Jackie's skills.

The trip to the restaurant was a jovial one, both girls smiling the whole way there, never breaking hand contact, though keeping their words few. They stepped inside, walking up to the waiter standing at the entrance to be seated.

He smiled, two young teens on a date. How cute.

"Right this way, sir and madam. I'll find you a nice booth." He said, waving the two inside.

He lead them to a booth near the back, secluded away from other guests, in an attempt to enhance the 'romantic' mood. "Have a seat, and I'll be by in a few minutes to get your orders."

The two girls watched him leave, before looking at each other and bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Sir!" Star laughed.

"I know! Can you believe it?"

"I know, right? Jackie did a really good job on you." She replied, sitting down at the booth and letting StarFan13's hand go for the first time since they'd left Janna's and getting comfortable.

The brunette sat opposite her, still giggling lightly, "She really did. I like what she did with my hair." She said, puffing up the falsely short hair.

"Definitely fun, I'll have to ask her to do that for me sometime. Where'd you get the clothes from?" The princess asked. They weren't out of the ordinary by any means, but they were girl's clothes, to be sure.

"Janna, actually." The brunette said as she pulled on her polo shirt, stretching it out and examining her clothing. "Turns out her attempts at not conforming to gender stereotypes affected her wardrobe a few times."

"Huh..." Star never understood the gender stereotypes of Earth. "Well, they look good on you. Though it's a little weird seeing you without your headband." She said brightly, a little giggle in her voice.

StarFan13 blushed a bit at the compliment. "Well, thanks! The hairband seemed a little silly for the date, like the moustache, but I'll be wearing it as soon as I get home!"

Star beamed back.

She picked up the menu in front of her, and started looking at the assortment of pastas and pizza and more generic meals that were available, wondering which she should pick. "I don't recognize much of this food... what are you getting?"

"Well, I'm thinking about getting some... Oh, wait." StarFan13 began, but stopped as she remembered something. Fishing through her pocket, a pensive look on her face, she pulled out a bunch of flash cards, sifting through the selection. "Umm... okay, garlic is still good!" She brightened.

"Huh? Garlic?"

"Well..." StarFan13 blushed a bit, "One of the things is that a kiss at the end of the date is typical, but not on the first. We won't be doing that!" She quickly added, "But it's part of the package. No kissing on the first date, gotta save that for at least the second one, when you're sure." She said, nodding sagely. "The uhh... the garlic bit is because it makes your breath bad, and kisses yucky."

The kissing explanation brought up a light flush to the princess, making note of the courtesies. "Geez... Earth dating has so many rules! Now I see why it's so hard..." She sighed, setting her head on her hand, exasperated.

StarFan13 bit her lip, and looked away a little somber, but decided not to chime in.

Then Star realized her faux pas, picking up on at least one proper cue about Earth dating: It wasn't a good idea to bring up your ongoing relationship woes with your date, fake or no.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about stuff like that right now. We're on a date! A fun practice one, but still! And that means just me and you right now."

Her 'date' brightened considerably. "Right! Hee-heh." She giggled, "Alright... I think I'll go with the penne alfredo. Tasty and easy to eat with a spoon."

"I have no idea what that is!" The blonde laughed out, "Same with half the menu, honestly. I'll just have what you're having."

"Got any allergies?"

"Noooo?" She was unsure of that, but she didn't have any that she knew about.

"Well, let's hope you like it then."

A moment later, Star noticed something. "How did you say it again?" She asked, a little distracted.

"Penne alfredo. Why?" StarFan13 replied, turning to see what Star had been looking at.

"Shh! The waiter's coming, look at your menu and shush. This'll be funny." She said, giggling a little.

Shrugging, the brunette obeyed. A moment later, the waiter arrived, setting a plate of garlic bread in front of the two teens. "So what can I get the lovely couple?" He asked suavely, winking to 'StarMan' and trying to be 'his' wingman.

Both managed to suppress their laughter, "Well, I'd like penne alfredo, please and thank you." The princess ordered politely.

"Penne... alfredo... got it. And for the sir?" He asked.

Before StarFan13 could speak up, Star leaned over and put a distracting hand on her friend's menu. "He's a little shy and doesn't like to talk much. He told me he'd like the same." She said brightly.

"Ahh... I understand. Don't worry. You'll find your courage son, trust me." He said, speaking to StarFan13 near the end in a fatherly tone.

The two waited in a deathly silence as he left, both of their eyes wide and lips quivering. Once they were both sure he was out of earshot, first Star, then StarFan13, began giggling into their hands. It was dumb, and silly, but the simple knowledge that they were tricking someone was enough to bring delight.

"Are you going to try and keep this up all night?" StarFan13 asked, a giggle in her voice.

"I think so, if you don't mind. It's funny." Star replied.

"Not at all! It's fun to pretend and play tricks once in awhile. It's kind of neat seeing how guys get treated by other guys. That was so _weird_."

"Sounded pretty weird. So, I guess now we wait?" She asked uncertainly.

"Well, while you wait to eat, and a little bit while you eat, it's a good time to get to know the other person. Chat and talk about each other, that sort of thing." StarFan13 explained.

"Oooh..." The princess scratched her head, thinking. "Buuuut, I kind of already know a lot about you? What should I ask?"

StarFan13 giggled, "Well, it's supposed to be for practice. Food shouldn't take too long, so let's each ask something about the other! Let's see..." She scratched her head in thought. "Oh! Can you tell me about your parents?" She already knew about Star's life on Earth, obsessively so, and knowing something from Mewni was exciting.

"Oh, alrighty then. I'll have to think of something good... but yeah! My parents are the King and Queen of Mewni, as you might have guessed, me being a princess and all." She chuckled, "My dad is River Butterfly. He's short and stocky, with a great blonde fuzzy beard. He loves roughhousing more than anybody I know." She hugged herself a little, remembering hugging that big beard as a kid. "My mom is Moon Butterfly. She's the really strict one compared to my dad. It was actually her idea to send me to Earth in the first place to learn responsibility with the wand!"

"Wooooow! They sound like great people! If I ever meet your mother, I'm going to have to thank her! I never would have met you otherwise." She said, smiling brightly.

Star blushed a bit, "Yeah... that's true. I never would have met you either, or any of my friends." She hadn't thought about that before; she was going to have to thank her mother too next time she saw her.

After a moment of contemplation, the princess looked up and noticed StarFan13 looking at her expectantly. "...oh! Right! My turn." She giggled, "Umm... Well, how about you tell me about your family?" She offered, stealing a little from her date's question.

The brunette smiled knowingly, "Sure! I'm an only child, like you! My parents aren't anywhere near as fantastical as yours though. My mom works as a physics teacher at the University, and my dad's an accountant. He handles money for a bunch of small business clients and keeps their taxes in order. Pretty boring stuff."

"Boring? What are you talking about! That's amazing! Your mom's teaching stuff that magic can't even explain to a bunch of smart people! And your dad's keeping all these places afloat with his work. If not for him, they'd all probably get shut down because of bad taxes or some other reason, losing their businesses! I don't think that's boring at all. It's a part of making lives great! It's stuff like that that makes me love Earth so much!"

StarFan13 was awed at the sudden praise, and soon beamed from the approval. "I guess I never thought it that way... Wow, maybe they're not so boring after all."

Just then, the waiter started to approach again, plates in hand. "Oh, shush shush. Here he comes again." She said, trying to keep a straight face, but smiling wider than she'd been before.

"Alright... Two orders of pasta in alfredo sauce. One for the madam, and one for the sir." He proclaimed, putting them down with a flourish. He was trying to bring his A game for the perceived date. "I hope you enjoy, and if you need anything, just let me know." The waiter finished, giving a very small bow before taking his leave.

"Thank you very much! He appreciates too, I can assure you." Star said, taking a moment to sound as 'high class' as her mother had wanted her too for years.

A moment later, the two giggled a little. "Think we should surprise him as we leave?" StarFan13 asked as she scooped up some of the short noodles in a spoon.

"Oh, we definitely have too. Too funny not too." The princess, noticing the brunette's use of a spoon, grabbed one of her own. She brought a spoonful of the somewhat runny pasta up to her mouth and got her first taste. "Mmm! This is pretty good! I wasn't sure about the sauce at first, but it's yummy!"

"Mhm! I like the garlic parts. Need some mints afterwards, but it's sooo good!" She exclaimed, shoveling more into her mouth.

A few bites later, Star spotted something. "Oh, you got a little... hold on." She said, grabbing a napkin and reaching over to StarFan13.

"Wha-" The brunette as Star brushed some sauce off of her cheek.

"There!" The princess went back to eating, as if it were nothing, while StarFan13 quieted and lowered her head for a moment.

The two shared the rest of their meal in silence, the food not lasting very long in front of the once starving Star.

"Thanks for bringing me here! That was really good, and I was soooo hungry!" The blonde sighed, leaning back with a smile on her face.

"Not a problem. This has been really fun so far." Starfan13 replied, smiling. "Shall we pay and head to the movies now? We've got... twenty minutes to get there, so that's about ten to spare." She said, looking at her watch.

"We don't even need to walk! Hold on, I got this..." She said, reaching into her purse.

For a moment, StarFan13 thought Star was about to use her scissors to skip out on a meal. But, to her surprise, she set some cash down on the table. Ten dollars more than what she figured the meal would cost. "B-but... I was supposed to!"

The princess giggled. "Well, like I said, I decided I was paying tonight. And you can't do anything about it!"

The brunette looked down in shame, for just a moment, before an idea came to mind. "Well... alright! I can save the money I do have for the carnival next weekend!"

"There you go! Come on, let's head to the movies."

Grabbing StarFan13's hand, the princess made her way to the door.

The brunette turned back in time to see the waiter checking the money at their table. "Thanks for the pasta, sir!" She said, not even attempting to hide her voice in the least.

The waiter stood there, money in hand, dumbfounded for a few moments before shaking his head and muttering something about kids these days.

* * *

The line to the movie was a short one, even though Star didn't use her scissors, something StarFan13 was secretly hoping to experience. Well, maybe one day.

They had the choice of a few different movies that were all showing relatively close to one another. One was a horror-thriller, another a pretty standard looking action movie, and the third, a cliche romantic-comedy.

"Well... I wouldn't mind seeing any of them, really. Which one do you like?"

"I don- Wait..." StarFan13 replied, contemplating something. Getting an idea, she nodded to the horror movie. "How about something scary? Those are always fun."

"Sounds good to me! Let's go!"

Dragging her 'date' along, Star rushed into the theatre, and bought the tickets for their next two hours of entertainment.

* * *

Two hours later, they walked out of the theatre, blank, ghastly looks on their faces, clutching each other loosely. Both were dead silent as they made their way to the sidewalk.

"...that..." Star began.

"...was..." StarFan13 continued.

"Awesome!" They both cheered at the same time, throwing their hands into the air.

"I can't believe how much fun that was! This has been really great so far. What's next?" Star asked.

"Well..." The brunette reached into her polo shirt pocket and started sifting through her flash cards again. "Right! I should have remembered this one. It's time for me to walk you home, and bid you a good night."

"Oh. Well, alright then. I just want to say, I had a really good time tonight. Thank you guys for doing this for me. And you especially, forced to be my 'date' and all." Star giggled.

"Eh-heh, yeah..." StarFan13 rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I'm glad you had yourself a really good time. I did too."

"Great! Well... shall we, my good 'sir'?" She asked, offering out her hand once again.

StarFan13 giggled and took the appendage graciously. "Let's."

And so, the two left the theater, chatting to one another about how nice the night had been. Neither of them noticed the monster in a ghillie suit with binoculars and a camera across the street.

* * *

A/N: Forgot these. Shouts out to cindermane for the proofread. You caught a lot of stuff that I appreciate! Hope the readers out there enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Ludo! Lord Ludo!"

The sound of a monster yelling his name in his unfinished halls startled Ludo, who'd been looking at some papers in his new 'scheming room', where he planned to work out smarter ways to deal with his enemies. The room was currently covered in pictures of Star and her friends.

"Gah! Don't scare me like that you stup-" He stopped, putting a hand to his tiny chest and taking a deep breath, "I mean, what is it, my treasured minion?" He asked politely.

The ghillie suit monster looked worried for a moment, but calmed. He and his fellow minions knew that Ludo was trying, and it showed. They all appreciated him more for it. "Well, I have some news. It seems that Star..." He threw a fist full of pictures down onto the table in front of Ludo, "...has a new boyfriend."

"What! Let me see those!" Cried Ludo, snatching at the pictures.

They weren't the best shots, all of them taken at in dark lighting and from far enough away to avoid detection. One photo was of Star and a mysterious boy walking hand in hand down the street. Another, of the two sharing a meal at a restaurant, a nearby mirror reflecting the photographer (still in ghillie suit) sitting at an opposing table, eating spaghetti. A third showed the two sharing a hug outside of Star's house. This was real.

"Well well well... it seems like she's dumped that Marco kid and found herself a new man... Or he dumped her, and that's why she stormed my castle the other day. Either way I always thought she could do better than that one. This is a new player in my schemes now..."

"Should we try and kidnap him, sir?"

"No! Don't you remember what happened when Toffee did that? No, if we kidnap anyone, it will be one of her tertiary friends. Someone she won't go ballistic and level my castle over." He grabbed the best photo of this new mystery boyfriend and stuck it up on the wall behind him, on the rightmost side.

Along with that on, there were many other photos, all of Star's friends and family. They were on a clearly labeled scale of 'Odds She'll Rescue' versus 'Odds She'll Blow Up My Castle'. The new boyfriend's picture was placed firmly in the top right corner, with Marco's having been moved to the left to signify his apparent demotion. Star's parents, Marco's parents, Star's friends; all were there.

His gaze hovered around to a nice sweet spot; not too low on the 'Odds She'll Rescue' scale and not too high on the 'Blow Up My Castle' scale. The princess' human friends.

A grin spread across his face. He had promised to let her know about his next two ambushes, and that would give him time to plan this out. "Keep an eye on this one. Find out what you can. And... keep a close eye on that one, as well."

His finger landed on one of the pictures in the sweet spot.

The ghillie suit monster saluted, and left without another word.

* * *

Star was twirling Monday morning on her way to school, humming happily to the tune of the birds and passing cars.

"You seem happy today." Said her traveling companion.

"I'm just in a pretty good mood today! This weekend was really refreshing." She beamed.

The boy next to her smiled, "Glad to hear it. It's nice to see you to happy again. Whatever you did did the trick."

She stopped for a moment to think, "Yeah, I guess so." A giggle escaped her lips.

"What did you end up doing, anyway?"

"That's a seeeeecret, Marco! But it was fun. I thought it was going to be silly at first, but I'm getting results already. Even if I'm not learning much, it was still a good bit of fun that I really needed."

"That's awesome, Star! I'm happy for you." He said, smiling. In truth, he was even happier than he let on, having his friend back again. But he understood what she was going through, in a way, and wanted to give her her space.

"Thanks, Marco." She said sweetly, a big smile on her face.

The two traveling companions were near the school when a portal opened up in front of them. Marco immediately dropped into a stance while Star grabbed her wand. A moment later, the tall form of a monster emerged from, his footsteps thudding against the ground.

There was a tense moment of silence.

"From Lord Ludo." The monster said in deep, rumbling voice. With careful precision, he offered the princess a black envelope, sealed with a wax image of Ludo's face.

Carefully, Star reached out and gingerly took it, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Without another word, the monster turned around and went back through the portal.

"...what just happened?" Marco asked, stupefied.

"I'm not sure...! Wait!" She exclaimed, an idea coming to mind. She ripped open the enveloped, cracking Ludo's wax face in half in the process.

Inside was a simple letter, white, folded into thirds. In big, bold letters, read:

 **Thursday, 6:00 PM**

It was accompanied by a small doodle of Ludo standing on top of Star and Marco, both with little X's for eyes, while holding the wand.

"Huh... he actually did it."

"Did what?" The boy asked.

"Oh uhhh... sorry. I forgot to tell you. I kiiiiind of raided Ludo's castle the other day. An-"

"Wait, you did what!? Star, that's dangerous! Especially by yourself!" Marco pleaded.

"It's fine, Marco! I... actually came out of it feeling more like a jerk than anything else. I don't really want to talk about that part... but!" She thrust her finger towards the sky, "We did make a deal. I wouldn't raid his castle anymore until it was finished, and he would warn me of his next two ambushes. And it looks like he's actually doing it. Who'd a thunk?"

"Really?" He asked incredulously.

"Yup."

"...really?"

"Yes, Marco!"

The boy in the red hoodie stood there in silence for a moment, wondering just what was happening to his life. "Well, I guess we need to prepare then." He finally said, a look of determination on his face.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. We beat him pretty good last time. He's harmless compared to... to..." She trailed on, memories of Toffee springing forth.

Marco wanted to reach out, put a hand on her shoulder, but with the way things were between them right now, he thought against, and kept his hands to himself. "Look, Star, I'm... It'll be alright, okay? Toffee's gone now, and heck, maybe this thing with Ludo will be just like old times, yeah? Back to... ehh... well, as normal as our weirdness can get."

This seemed to calm Star down, a small smile returning to her face. "Yeah... yeah. You're right. Just like old times..."

As she looked to Marco, her once... no, still crush, she wondered if such a thing as that could ever happen again.

* * *

Star sat on a bench outside the school, poking and prodding at her lunch. The day had been going well enough all morning, but she just couldn't shake this funk that had fallen over her on the way to school. Her excitement over what had happened over the weekend was gone. Star hated stupid teenage angst.

It was so hard to think of what she could do, how she was going to get over it. And yet, at the same time, she knew that she was getting better. Just not fast enough for her liking. Compounded with this were her worries that she might be straining her relationship with her friends. They were all really going out of their way for her, and while she loved them for it, she felt selfish for being the focus of it all.

"Star? What are you doing all by yourself?"

The princess jumped a little at the voice directed at her. Looking over quickly, she spotted StarFan13, looking concerned.

"Oh! Hey, StarFan13! I've just... been thinking is all. Come sit with me!" She replied, smiling brightly and patting the bit of bench next to her.

Cheerfully sitting down, the brunette set her lunch on her lap and took a bite. "What'cha thinkin' about?"

Star took a deep sigh and leaned over, putting her head on her friend's shoulder. "Honestly? Just kind of thinking about how things are going right now. The whole Marco thing is... still hard. Especially since I live with him. I try, but..." She sighed again, "And then there's you guys. You're all doing so much for me, but it feels like it's all too much. I mean, why?"

StarFan13 patted the princess' free shoulder. "Isn't it obvious? That's just what friends do for each other, silly." She said, as if it was the most plain thing in the world.

"I know that but... I dunno. That's a lot of work you girls are putting in for me."

"It's because we all care about you so much. You've become a big part of our lives. Not to mention that this is all pretty fun to do, so it's not like we're breaking our backs or anything." Starfan13 said, giving Star's shoulder a little squeeze and trying to downplay the effort. It was a lot of work, and while fun, it wouldn't do good for the princess to get discouraged at just how much.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, if you put it like that." The blonde replied, giving a small smile and sitting up straight. "So... why was it you that got stuck with being my pretend date?"

StarFan13's smiled faltered just a moment, but she explained, "Well, we wanted to make sure you were comfortable, so that meant a close friend. You don't have many close friends that are human boys, so that narrowed things down more. Jackie's out... for obvious reasons." She spoke fast, "And Janna was already masterminding most of it, and she didn't want to do the dating scene, even if for pretend. That left me."

"Huh..." Star looked into space for a moment, thinking, "Well," she smiled, "I'm glad that it was you anyway, even if it was a last choice. You're really easy to get along with."

The brunette blushed a little, "Aww, thanks Star!"

Getting up, the two of them shared a quick hug, "Come on, let's go find something to do!" The princess said.

"Lead on!"

And Star faced the rest of her day with a smile on her face.

* * *

A/N: Chapter 7 is out. I have definitive ending for this story, and it will be roughly 15-20 chapters long. Thanks again to cindermane for beta reading. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Do you think we have everything we need?"

"Marco."

"I mean, it's happening in half an hour, we have to be ready!"

"Marco..."

"It's always just been in the moment, you know? I've never had time to plan for one of these! What if we're not ready?"

"Marco!"

"I mean, will the nunchucks help, or just slow me down? What about my gi? Should I switch back to the hoo-"

"MARCO!"

The boy finally snapped out of his panic. "Umm..." He muttered, looking over to the princess.

"Calm down, Marco. It'll be fine! This is just Ludo we're talking about. I mean, what's the worst he can do, honestly? After everything that happened with Toffee, do you think Ludo is going to be that bad?" She said, trying to calm Marco down.

"Yeah... yeah, you're right. I've just never had time to sit and think about a fight before. Even when I was dimension hopping for Heckapoo, it was always heat of the moment stuff. And even when it wasn't, I had my sweet thirty year old buff bod to back me up. Being fourteen again with spindly arms hasn't done much for my confidence."

Star patted him on the back gently, "You got this, you always have. Just a little stage fright."

"I guess... Yeah. Alright. Hold on." He said, finally calming his nerves.

He went behind a particularly thick tree that he'd been using to change behind, and after a little shuffling, stepped back out in his red hoodie. Marco's karate gi was set aside, and he decided on taking the nunchucks after all. Maybe he could actually have fun with this.

It was five minutes until the promised ambush time.

"Do you think he'll actually show?" Marco asked.

"I think so. He seemed pretty serious about it before. I mean, he was always serious, but, I dunno. He feels more serious."

"Alright, if you say so." He said, stretching a little limbering up before the fight.

Minutes ticked by, and before too much longer, Marco's phone beeped with an alarm. "Well, it's six. Maybe he's la-"

A hole in reality was sheared open before he could finish his sentence.

"Star Butterfly!" Came a familiar sounding cry. "Prepare to face your doom!"

Out of the portal came Ludo on his giant eagle, flying up and into the sky above. The bird began a slow circling up above, while the monster riding it fiddled with something.

"Wait... does he have a headset on?" Marco asked.

"What?" Asked Star.

"He's got a headset on. Is he making a phone call?"

Before they could think of anything else, a shout from Ludo signaled the attack. "Minions! Formation delta! And watch out, the stupid boy has a weapon!"

At once, the monsters poured through the portal. There weren't any more than usual, the same old batch, but they had a somewhat different look in their eyes. They seemed a little more dangerous, somehow.

They charged the two teenagers in a spear tip formation, running not directly at their targets, but in between them. Star and Marco jumped back, out of the way of danger, but now separated from each other. The monsters broke off of their movement, and split into two groups, one for each combatant.

"Marco! Be careful!" Star called as she charged up a spell in her wand, blasting one of the monsters in her group and backing up to get some distance.

"I-I got this Star!" The boy called back.

Thankfully, the princess could see a monster going flying from a well timed hit from the nunchucks, assuring her that Marco was going to be okay. Or at least was holding his own.

Turning to the left, she shot up a line of four monsters, each getting ready to charge her. A well timed blast of magical narwhals took care of them. She lept over another pair gracefully, landing behind them to blast both of with rainbow coloured beams.

Risking a glance upwards, she caught sight of Ludo. Despite her worry about it, he didn't seem to be trying to attack the two of them in any way, simply watching. She could see what he was talking into his headset, though she couldn't hear what he was saying.

Ducking beneath a errant swing from a monster, she jumped up and bashed him on the head with her wand. A pulsating pink crystal popped out of his ear.

"What?" Star asked, looking at it curiously.

Before she could make a grab for it, the monster quickly snatched it up and shoved it back into his ear. The princess fowned deeply at this, wondering just what in the world was going on. She couldn't think much more than that, however, as the fight continued, though at least it looked like they were winning.

Despite being separated, they were only having to deal with half of the group of monsters each, and that was something both of the capable teens could manage. A few more well placed blasts and karate moves later, and they found themselves victorious, if a little more out of breath than their usual encounters.

Swooping down upon his eagle, Dimensional Scissors in hand, the monster leader cut open a portal as he landed. "You may have beaten me this time, Star Butterfly! But I will be back!" He said, not with a scowl, but with a smile. "Come, minions! You've earned another spa day!"

Dutifully, the monsters left, Star and Marco watching on warily. Once the last of their enemies had vanished, Ludo stood before the portal. "See you next time!" He teased, producing a ring-bound notepad. He quickly scribbled something onto the page and ripped it off, tossing it to the ground.

A moment later, he, and his portal, were gone.

"Man... something really didn't feel right about that. Is it just me, or did they get better?" Marco asked, nursing a bruised arm.

"I don't kno- Oh Marco! Are you okay?" Star asked, suddenly noticing his injury.

"Eh, it's fine. Not worse than what Jeremy's done to me in the past." He said with a noncommittal shrug.

The princess was worried, that was certain, but she decided to take the boy's word for it at face value. His face didn't betray much pain or discomfort, so she hoped he was fine.

Marco walked over to the piece of paper that Ludo left behind, and picked it up. "'Same time. Two weeks.' Does this mean he's coming back?"

"I think so... he said he'd tell me about the next two times he was going to try and take my wand. I guess he was serious."

"Well... at least we have two weeks to get ready, and I... hmm..." He looked at the paper more closely, before walking over to the pile of supplies he'd brought in his panic before the fight.

"What is it?" Star asked.

"Just noticed something a little weird about the paper... hold on. Where is... aha!" He fished out his own ring bound notepad and pencil. He laid Ludo's sheet onto his own paper, and then lightly ran the pencil over it. The indent of what Ludo had previously written started to reveal itself.

Once he was finished, Marco studied the markings closely. "This... this is weird."

"Well, stop keeping me in suspense!" The princess said in exasperation. "Tell me!"

"Alright alright. Sheesh." He said with a small smile. "Well... he was taking notes. I mean, his writing is awful, but I can make out little notes about what we did, what his minions did, and even a little note about what to do next time. I think he's... studying us?" He asked himself, unsure and worried about the circumstances.

Star felt a pit in her stomach. At first, Ludo had been a welcome bit of nostalgia and stress relief, reminding her of when things were much less complicated. Now even this was starting to change, and making her life all the harder for it. She put a hand to her head and sighed. "I... I guess even Ludo is starting to change, just like everything else."

Marco immediately picked up on what she was saying, "Don't worry about it, Star. Things may change, but that doesn't mean they change for the worse. Sometimes," he said, a bright smile on his face, "things change for the better. How about you head home and talk to the girls a bit or something. Relax."

The princess picked up on something, "You're not coming home?"

Marco rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... no. Not exactly. I mean, I have to bring my stuff back, but then... I'm going out with Jackie tonight." He really didn't want to say that, but he also didn't want to outright lie or go behind his friend's back.

The blonde's heart clenched in her chest as she heard those words. The logical part of her mind understood. Marco was just wanting to spend time with his girlfriend. Take her out on a date. The emotional part of her mind, however, screamed in outrage that it wasn't with her. That she couldn't be with him.

It felt a little quieter than before. But it still hurt.

She put on a forced smile. "Have a good time!" She said in a rush. She reached into her star shaped purse and pulled out her scissors, and opened a portal back to her bedroom.

"Hey, could you leave that o..." Marco trailed off as the princess stepped through and closed the rift behind her. "...pen." He sighed, looking at all the things he'd brought with him for the fight.

Time to carry it all home. The hard way.

* * *

Star sighed as she flopped down onto her bed, face impacting the pillow. It felt like she had come so far and yet still her problems weren't going away. She didn't know what she needed to do to get past all of this, all of her thoughts consumed by it. She could only hope that they would go away soon enough.

A beep from her phone alerted her to a text. Pawing for her phone without looking, she eventually managed to get a hold of it, and brought it close enough to look at with the absolute minimum effort possible.

Peering with one eye, she looked to see who it was.

It was from StarFan13, talking about a new addition to the Star Butterfly fan club.

Star rolled over onto her back and replied, a small smile creeping onto her face. At least one thing in her life hadn't changed for the worse.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, folks. I'm finding it harder and harder to find dedicated writing time. But, I'm going to finish this story, and properly.


	9. Chapter 9

Star looked over herself in the mirror again, doing a little twirl. Everything seemed to be in place. Not a wrinkle on her skirted outfit, not a scuff on her black dress shoes, and not a hair out of place. Just to be safe, she re-adjusted her hair band for the twentieth time. She was debating another once over when her phone beeped.

She was prepared this time. Star Butterfly wasn't gonna be late again!

Turning off the alarm, she suddenly felt silly. She'd been nervously getting ready for almost an hour now. All for a silly practice date. Laughing at herself over her own antics, the princess reached into her purse, and did a quick double check to make sure she had enough cash, courtesy of the Royal Mewni Treasury. With a nod, she pulled out her scissors, and, a little hop later, found herself in front of Janna's door.

A moment after Star rang the bell, Janna opened the door, just in time to see the portal close behind the princess. "Woah... cool," she grinned, "come on, Mayor. Looking good." She gave her guest a thumbs up.

Star smiled brightly at the comment and curtsied. "Thank you."

"So we've got everything ready. Carnival's gunna be open all night, so no deadline or ending to this one. It'll be a little more loose this time. The carn will be more of a setting for the date than the date itself. You and 'Starman' will be making your own fun, and finish up whenever you feel like it. Improv, after all, is a good skill to have on dates." Janna explained as they walked up the stairs and into her room.

"Loose and improved... got it!" Star said after grasping the idea. Looking around, she saw Jackie sitting down and reading a skateboard magazine near the vanity. Pony Head was nowhere to be seen, which didn't surprise Star much. While Lilacia liked the human girls well enough, she mainly stuck around to hang out with Star. Finally, she spotted StarFan13.

Once again, the girl was dressed up as the faux-beau Starman, eager to teach Star some Earth dating tips. She wore much more casual clothes this time around, with baggy jeans and equally baggy shift, mostly to hide her feminine features. Jackie had done a good job with tucking her hair in and clipping it just right.

Star gave a low whistle, "Look at you! Hunkier by the day." She giggled.

StarFan13 returned the giggle, "Thanks. Jackie will have an excellent future in dressing up drag kings."

"Damn right," the skater-girl said without even looking up from her magazine.

Star had no idea what that was, and filed it away as something to look up later. "So, where's this 'carnival' at?" She asked, the word coming oddly off her tongue.

"This one's a bit further. If you go by foot, it'll be almost an hour. But, seeing as how you used those scissors of yours to get to my front door, I don't think you'd mind playing the part of transportation this time around." Janna explained, nodding to Star's purse. "Normally the guy is supposed to have a car, to impress the girl and drive them both around, but we're all too young to have our driver's licenses, and Jackie can't fit you both on her skateboard."

"Yeah, one passenger vehicle only." Jackie chimed in.

"Don't worry then. A little magic and we'll be on our way. Though... it helps to know where you're going so... StarFan13, mind doing the honors?" She asked, taking out her dimensional scissors and holding them out for her friend.

The brunette looked at the offered scissors with a sense of reverence and awe. Her eyes shimmered in wonder as she slowly reached out and took the tool, holding it like it was a priceless, fragile treasure.

"Umm... they're just my scissors." Star chimed in after a few moments.

"O-Oh! Right... how do I use them?"

"Easy! Just think of where you want to go, and cut the air. Like this." The blonde reached over and grabbed StarFan13's hand, slipping her fingers into the scissors holes.

The brunette did the same, feeling a magical tingle in her fingers. "Alright... I think I got it."

"Good. Now, I like to start low, and then cut up. It doesn't really matter, but it makes me feel peppy." The princess explained.

Their hands followed through the motions, starting low. StarFan13 stabbed the scissors forward a little with intent, the blades piercing through the fabric of reality. Still with the carnival in mind, she brought the tool up, creating a glowing slice. Feeling a small tug to pull back from Star, she pulled out the scissors, and before her, a shining portal opened.

"Easy peasy!" The princess proclaimed, taking her scissors back and putting them in her purse, "Now come on!"

Excitedly, she grabbed onto StarFan13's wrist, and dragged her bodily through the portal, leaving Janna's room behind.

* * *

The carnival was more than what Star had expected. Shining lights of all different colors sparkled in her vision, while bouncy and energetic music mixed together, filling the air around her with energy and excitement. Carnival games of all kinds lined the area. Intermixed between were food stands galore, the contents of each making princess' mouth water with anticipation. The only disappointing thing was the rides. The large ferris wheel, among others, looked like fun, but compared to all of the things she'd been through and seen back in Mewni, they were rather tame.

Next to her, StarFan13 quivered in barely contained excitement. "That... was... AWESOME!" She suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

"Huh?" The princess asked, confused, "What was?"

"Those scissors! We were in the room, then I cut the, and then... now we're at the carnival! Across town in the blink of an eye!"

The blonde had forgotten how amazing things she treated as everyday occurrences could be so fascinating to Earthlings. The same could be said in reverse, now that she thought about it. That gave her an idea for the third date.

"DImensional scissors are pretty handy. But they're hard to come by. If you don't treat them well, Heckapoo will come and take them away. She only gives them to those who she thinks deserves them. Honestly she's pretty liberal with them, but if you do something to get them taken away, it's a PAIN to get them back." Star explained.

"Who's Heckapoo? Can I get a pair from her?" The brunette asked.

"Well... Maybe one day. She's never given one to someone from Earth before, well, except Marco, so who knows? Oh, and she's a member of the High Magic Council, in charge of forging and policing the dimensional scissors." She explained.

Her 'date' seemed excited at the prospect of getting her own scissors. The princess giggled lightly, and reached over to take the brunette's hand, since they'd done that so much last time. "So where to first? You're gunna be showing me around, right?"

"Right! Sorry, got a little distracted there." StarFan13 replied, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. "Umm... what do you want to try first? The games, the food, or the rides? Oh uh... hold on." She said, remembering something. She awkwardly fished around in her pants pocket for her notes, but soon pulled one out. She flipped it around and read it over, "Ah, ferris wheel is last, right." She reminded herself. She had gone over her notes so many times, but when things actually began, her mind went blank from nervousness.

Star wondered why that was, but waited for StarFan13 to continue, "Well, I'm not hungry yet, so how about the games?"

"Sounds great!" The princess replied excitedly, "Let's go!" With the brunette's hand gripped tightly in her own, she took off into the sea of lights and sounds.

 **AN: At this point, I finally watched the new Star vs. Season. And rewatched some of it. I completely forgot about Kelly, among other things. My characterization of the characters is kinda miserable. But I wanna finish this anyway. Canon things from those episodes will start to arrive from here on out.**

Star marveled at all of the various kinds of games that lined the walkways of the carnival, from ring toss to throwing darts at balloons. Tests of skill to silly guessing games. All of them amazed her as she dashed around, dragging her 'date' behind her all the while.

Minutes passed, and suddenly, she gasped. An adorable, big-eyed butterfly plushie was mounted up as a prize for one of the ball throwing games. For Star Butterfly, it was love at first sight..

"It's so cute." She said in a barely contained whisper.

"Huh?" StarFan13 asked, looking to see what it was, a little muddled from all the being pulled around.

"I want it. So much. With my soul. How can I make it mine?"

"Umm... well, you just have the pay the attendant the fee, and throw some balls at the targets... Oh! Wait, let me win it for you!" The brunette said, getting excited.

"Why? This should be no problem!" The princess stated, thinking that someone of her talents would win this easily.

"Well, that's actually part of the date. I have try and win you a prize so you have something at home to remember me by." She explained.

"Aww, that's sweet! But I could never forget you."

StarFan13 blushed a little at that, "Thanks. But, it's part of the tradition."

"Jeez... so many rules."

"Earthlings have had a lot of time to make up a lot of dumb rules."

"Well, alright. In that case," Star grabbed onto her fan by the arms and pulled her in close, staring into her soul. "Win me that butterfly."

"R-Right!"

Dutifully, StarFan13 pulled out some change from her pants pocket. The roominess of said pocket making her consider these pants more often. She had just enough money that she _should_ be able to win the prize, or so she hoped. Walking up to the clerk, she almost said something in her normal voice, but switched to her deeper Starman voice for a laugh.

"I'd like to try for a prize, my good sir." She said, being a little overdramatic.

"Alright, young man. Which one does that pretty lass of yours have her eyes on?" The attendant asked, leaning against the counter.

"The butterfly. The big one."

The attendant gave a low whistle, "That's one of the top prizes. You gotta be real good. If you can knock down all the bottles, you get a small prize. Trade in two small prizes for a medium prize. Trade in three of those, and the big butterfly is yours. Two dollars a shot!"

StarFan13 gulped a little. That meant she had to win six times! At two dollars a pop... she was glad that she brought forty with her. Hopefully there'd be enough for food...

"Alright, set me up!" She said confidently, slapping a ten dollar bill on the table.

Star watched on excitedly as the brunette began the little game. It turned out to be not quite as exciting as she had expected, though. StarFan13 threw a ball at some glass bottles lined up against the backdrop of the stand, and ended up missing. A second ball soon joined the first, but, finally, the third managed to knock a few of them over. "You almost got it, kid! Want to try again?"

While the brunette was a little disheartened, she nodded and kept going.

"Um... StarF- err... Starman, do you-" She winced at another miss, "Do you want me to... maybe..." She tried to ease in, offering to take over after her date missed another shot.

"No! I... I got this!" StarFan13 exclaimed, readying up another three balls.

For a good ten minutes, the princess watched as her fan tried shot after shot, and never once getting a single prize. While she wanted to support her friend, it was getting a little... hard to watch.

"Hey, maybe we should go and get some food instead?" She offered.

"You go. I have to do this." StarFan13 replied with a grim determination.

"Oooookay then..." Star wasn't sure what to make of it, but decided it was fine. This was a little more freeform after all. And it wasn't like she couldn't entertain herself.

Walking off, she started staring at the various food stalls. There was so much to choose from, from kebabs, to cotton candy, to burgers and fries! With a great big of glee in her heart, she ended up choosing the one that most definitely appealed to her the most: cotton candy.

She handed her money to the vendor and eagerly tore into the sweet treat. For a moment, she wondered if she should buy one for StarFan13 as well, since she was still at the booth. Would that be appropriate for the practice? A moment's deliberation told her that she didn't care, and wanted to get something for her friend.

Just as she turned towards the vendor again, she heard a voice behind her.

"Heya, Star! Find anything good to eat?"

"Yeah, cotton candy's great. Do you want some? My treat!" The princess replied.

"Oh! Of course!"

Soon, the two were walking through the carnival once again, both chomping away at their cotton candy, both equally messy about it. Once Star was nearly finished, she glanced over to her 'date' and asked, "Well, where to next?"

With a smile, StarFan13 took the princess' hand in her own, and made her way deeper into the carnival.

* * *

A/N: A half-chapter this time due to my being lazy and finding the chapter was dragging on too long. Also, my beta pointed out that things felt off with the StarFan13 winning a prize thing. This is addressed next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

The carnival was in full swing. The two girls had traveled from edge to edge, with Star more often than not leading them from interesting sight to sight. Whatever tickled the princess' fancy at a given moment in time was their guide through the cacophony of lights and sounds. StarFan13 tended to avoid anything that costed too much money, and more often than not reluctantly went along with it whenever the blonde offered to pay. Despite being tugged around everywhere and feeling bad about not paying for herself, the brunette was still having a good time.

The haunted house had been a blast, with Star having nearly blown a hole in the roof not once, not twice, but three times. Thankfully, she had her 'date' to stop her from causing too much property damage. The bumper cars had been especially well received by the warrior princess, having gotten into it from the first crash she made. The royal treasury was going to have to cover a few replacement cars after that.

"What next?" Star asked excitedly, the hours having passed in a blur, and yet her energy undiminished.

StarFan13 couldn't say the same, and quickly looked around for a solution. A moment later, she saw it, "Oh! There!" She pointed, then froze as sense caught up with her suggestion.

The princess took a moment to look at it more closely. "...the Tunnel of Love?" She blushed awkwardly as thoughts of what could go on in there flooded her poor, alien mind.

Mouth suddenly dry, the brunette started talking rapidly, "Well, it's a pretty standard affair for carnival dates! You get on a little swan boat and ride around while music plays and there's hearts and stuff everywhere. It's meant to be private and romantic." She blurted out. A deep breath, she continued, "But uhh... it's mostly because it's on the flash cards. It's part of the whole package."

The mewman calmed down a little at this, "Oh, okay... that makes... well, that makes no sense to me, but half of Earth doesn't! Let's go!" She finished with a smile.

The line to the Tunnel of Love was mercifully short, and it didn't take them long to get on one of the weird, swan shaped boats. The two giggled lightly as they jumped into in, rocking the boat. Once stable, the attendant let them off, gently moving down the tunnel.

Things were quiet at first, but soon, as the sounds of the carnival became faint echoes in the tunnel, the mood music started to set it. The mewman princess wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, and unbeknownst to her, an awkward silence had come across the two as she tried to puzzle it out. Well, awkward for StarFan13 at least. Much to the human girl's credit though, she was trying to break the silence.

"This is uhh... nice?" She offered.

Star blinked from her internal critique of the music when the brunette spoke, turning to her and smiling, "It's weird. A little boring. But the music is... odd. I can't quite place it..."

"Well, it's meant to be a little ah... romantic?"

"Hmm... Not quite. But almost. Ah! I know!" The princess exclaimed, smiling. "This is cuddly music." Without a hint of hesitation, Star leaned against StarFan13, for no other reason than she felt the music demanded it.

The human shied away a little, "S-Star..." She let out awkwardly, the dark lighting in the area hiding a blush on her face.

"Shut yer face. I know this is practice, but this is part of it, and I like it." She said bluntly, continuing to smile.

"Well... if you say so."

Awkwardly, brown hair touched blonde as StarFan13 joined in. The rest of the tunnel was spent in silence. Neither had anything to say, Star too lulled by the music, and it made for a good break from the rest of the 'date'. They hadn't realized it until then, but now that they were sitting down, they were exhausted. So much so, in fact, that by the time they reached the end of the ride, Star had fallen asleep.

"Star?" Asked the brunette, shaking Star a little. "Star." She said again, a little more forcefully. Not wanting to anger the attendant, who was waiting for them to get off, she poked the princess in the face a few times.

"Narwhal... bla- wha-huh?" The mewman looked around bleary eyed. "Oh, jeez, sorry!"

Leaping out of the swan boat, Star made a landing on the exit walkway, followed soon by StarFan13. She spun on her heels, looking to her date and smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I guess the night's catching up with me. Hopefully there isn't too much more running around."

The brunette giggled, "No problem, Star. And no, not really. There's a ride on the ferris wheel before the fireworks, and then I'm supposed to walk you home."

"That sounds doable, and fun!" After a moment scanning the area, the princess continued, "Ah, there it is! That was supposed to be one of the good ones, right?"

"Yeah, but maybe not for what you might be thinking. It's a slow ride, private like the Tunnel of Love, but it shows off a great view of the city, and the fireworks."

"Sounds even better! How long until the fireworks?"

"Around twenty minutes, which we'll probably be spending in line." StarFan13 sighed, "Lines... always lines."

"Well, let's get to standing around!" Excitedly, Star grabbed onto her date's hand, and started off.

"Uhh... wrong way."

"Right!" She flipped around, and made for the ferris wheel.

The line was mercifully short. They were in for a bit of a wait, but would make it in time for the fireworks. The minutes ticked by in a tedium, people shuffling forward every dozen or so rotations of the ride, until, finally, it was their turn.

"Please be seated. Strap on your belts. Have a fun ride." The man attending the ride said, his tone bored from repetition.

The two thanked him and strapped themselves in. StarFan13 checked her watch again. "Just in time!" She exclaimed.

"Great! I haven't seen some good fireworks in a while. It should be fun!"

The brunette smiled wide, "I'm glad you're having a good time tonight. I was really nervous about it."

Star blinked, "Why?"

"Well, I mean, it wouldn't be good practice if you didn't have fun." The human replied.

"No, I mean, why would you think I wouldn't have fun? Sending time with you is always fun." She had meant to say that it was fun to spend time with all of her friends, StarFan13 included, but something stumbled her words.

The brunette blushed a little at the accidental compliment. "I-I dunno... I guess... I mean, why would you? I'm just some obsessive fan. I've been trying to curb it on these dates as much as I can, Janna's been coaching with that, but I still don't know why I was even picked. I'm just some boring, nerdy human. Not even a spectacular one."

The princess grabbed StarFan13's hand in both of her own, "But you are! Earth is amazing because of all the humans here! The things you've done, what you've made... what you're capable of! Mewmans in my mom's kingdom revere the royal family, but you! Everyone else made me feel welcomed, but no one else made me feel more wanted right away. And at the same time, you remind me a little of the adoration I get back home from my mom's people. Humans are great! And that includes you too, so don't sell yourself short, okay?"

The human with her sniffed a little and wiped her eyes, "Thanks, Star. That means a lot. Makes me feel a lot better about all of this."

Star smiled back, "No problem."

A sudden explosion startled her from the conversation. The only thing that stopped her from going for her wand was the grip she had on her friend's hand. Her nerves tensed up, but soon abated as saw StarFan13's face light up in both wonder and colour.

"The fireworks started! They're so pretty up close..." The brunette gasped.

Star looked up towards the light show, a small gasp escaping her lips. It wasn't the first time she'd seen fireworks, but there was something about the intimate space of the ferris wheel pod and the proximity to them that made it so much more wonderful somehow.

And so the two watched on, lost in the wonder of the lights.

* * *

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"But I have to! It's part of the learning process."

"I still think it's stilly."

StarFan13 giggled, "If you wanna date on Earth, you gotta be used to getting walked home. Or a drive, but neither of us is old enough to drive yet."

"Who needs cars when you have these?" Star flashed up her scissors.

"You're the one that told me that they aren't that easy to come by."

The princess giggled, "Yeah, I know. But I have them, so I'll never need a car."

"Are you going to try one anyway when you can?"

"Oh of course! I want to do at least one of everything on Earth."

"That'll take you a while."

"I know! It's it the best?"

The two giggled at that as they reached Star's - well, Marco's - doorstep.

"Well, I guess this is it, then. Date two of five, complete." Star stated, looking happy about it. Things had finally started picking up again in her life and mood alike, something she was grateful for.

"Yeah... oh! Wait!" StarFan13 said, reaching into her back pocket. "It's umm... well, it's not the butterfly you wanted, I couldn't win it with the money I had but... I got you this."

"Wait... did you spend all your money on that game?"

"...maybe?"

"StarFan13! Why?" Star chided.

"Because I wanted to win you the prize you wanted, really bad. But... I could only get this instead." She soon produced a small, green alien doll.

"What is it?"

"It's an alien. Well, what we thought aliens would look like." She paused for a moment, "It's funny that the first alien I ever meet looks so much like a human. A pretty one at that."

Star looked down at the doll and smiled as StarFan13's words settled in her. It wasn't what she wanted, but that didn't matter. This was filled with her friend's dedication and thoughtfulness. That made it better.

Leaning in, she planted a tiny kiss on brunette's forehead, who looked stunned at the gesture.

"I remember last week. End of the second date, right? See you at school."

And with that, the princess waved goodbye, leaving a starstruck StarFan13 on her doorstep.

* * *

A/N: And the second date is complete. Next chapter I had a hard time deciding what to do with, and ended up making something sorta filler-y, but with enough exposition to make it worth while. See ya next time.


	11. Chapter 11

Ludo looked out onto his training minions. The castle was mostly finished, which meant he could devote more of their time preparing for his ultimate confrontation with Star. Their progress was quite admirable. He had turned them from a rag tag group of thugs and brutes to a... well, not a well oiled machine, not yet. A windmill. That was close. Moving parts and what not. The once again king of the castle shook his head as the metaphor got away from him.

A bell signalled the end of the training session for the day, something he implemented to both be a nicer boss, as well as to keep his minions at peak endurance. It wouldn't do to wear them out just in case that princess decided to try and break his castle... again.

"Alright, minions! You've done very well today! You'll be perfectly primed for your next encounter with the princess. Her wand will be mine!" He raised his hands into the air, a maniacal grin on his face. He then realized he almost started monologuing in front of his monsters. "Ahem. Sorry. Now! It's time for the post-training fun time session! What would you all like to go do?"

The monsters instantly made a huddle circle, whispering amongst themselves. They all had to agree on a single thing or else their lord probably wouldn't do it. After a few seconds of deliberation, the ghillie suit monster stepped.

"Ah! Ghillie," As Ludo has imaginatively named him, "what did you decide on?" He asked with a smile.

"Story time!" Ghillie replied to a chorus of 'yeah!' from the other monsters.

"Story time? Well…" Ludo thought for a moment before he made a decision. "I got it! How about I tell you all what happened after the fight with Toffee?"

In the blink of an eye, all monsters present were sitting down in front of Ludo in a semi-circle, wearing their pajamas and holding on to blankets or stuffed animals. One or two had nighttime herbal teas.

"Well, you have these two beauties to thank for my return." He began, petting his giant bird and giant spider. "Despite leaving them behind after the battle, they still came for me." He sniffed a little, "Them, and one other." He said, to build up a little suspense.

The monsters leaned forward.

"My dear brother Dennis.

"It must have been fate, really. After the battle, I'd asked Star to cast me through a directionless portal, as a way to find myself once again. The jungle was harsh. Every night I slept, I'd wake riddle with bug bites. More than once I found some animal chewing on my leg!" He hiked his robes, revealing three separate bite marks across his left leg, eliciting gasps from his listeners.

"But it wasn't all that bad. The fruits were delicious! Eventually, after wandering for days, I found this quaint little village out on the eastern edge of the trees, and I began to befriend them. None of them ever ventured too deep inside, but I'd been dropped almost in the middle of it! They saw me as the brave warrior that I definitely am, and I started trading them the plants and fruits that could only be found deeper than they dared go.

"I was actually starting to get comfortable in that life. Dare I say it, even happy? There was something missing though. A piece of myself I had yet to find. No, thinking on it now, I wasn't happy, just... content. Yes, I was definitely missing something. Thankfully, that something became obvious after a while, but at the time, I didn't know. That was when Dennis showed up.

"He'd gotten his hands on a pair of scissors. I don't know how, but he did it. And he wasn't alone. He told me that my dearest pets here had come to him to help find me. He... he told me about my parents. The state of their hovel. What they had become because of me." He bowed his head, looking ashamed of himself. "Then he took me there, and it really hit home just what I'd done."

"And in that moment, I found it! That glorious little thing that had been eluding me for so long!" He raised his hands triumphantly. The minions all leaned in anticipation.

Ludo clenched his fist dramatically, "Purpose."

"Purpose?" Asked one of the minions.

"Purpose! A reason for being, a reason to do anything... to have meaning again. It was then that I'd found it... My darling parents. For those of you who are new to this, I was... not very nice back then. I mean, I'm still not very nice, but I lacked... loyalties. I kicked my own parents out of their castle, fought night and day to steal Star's wand, and take over Mewni!"

He hung his head in shame, "I regret that to this day. It was... empty. When I finally took over Mewni a while ago, no one liked me. The people all hated me for what I'd done, and I had no idea why at the time. I even tried to make the king order his people to love me. That was the thing; they were his people, not mine. They would never love me the way I wanted them too."

The monsters let out sounds of aww.

"Taking over Mewni is now in the past for me. I did it, and I didn't like it. The wand, on the other hand, is still very much on the table. After I lost my own wand to Toffee and Star, I... missed it. Levitato was so much fun!" He shook his hands giddily, squealing a little. "Ahem. I need the wand to gain the power necessary to make my own Kingdom. One that I can happily give to my parents to make up for what I've done to them.

"With the power of the wand, I'll be able to properly earn the love of a people to call my own. I'll be able to make my parents proud and... hopefully, get them to forgive me. But that's still a long way away. And I thank you all for helping me get there."

He turned to look at all of his minions, each of them tearing up just a little. It filled him with pride that he could elicit such emotions from them. It was working, even if just a little bit.

"Did you all enjoy the story?" Ludo asked them.

All of the monsters nodded vigorously. "Excellent! Now, let's tuck you in for your naps."

In a flash, his minions had arranged themselves on the cots in the training room. They were set up to let tired monsters have a nap when needed, but everyone got to have one when training was finished. They all had their owns beds at their own homes, of course, but there was still more to do later before calling it a day.

One by one, Ludo tucked their blankets up to their chins, saying goodnight and giving each and every monster a kiss on their foreheads. He even added special touches that he'd learn some of them liked. "Would you like the night light on, Ghillie?"

The monster nodded sheepishly.

Ludo flicked the little switch on the nightlight next to Ghillie's favorite cot, illuminating just enough to not bother anyone else, but help his best spy get some good rest.

Heading towards his private chambers, he turned back one last time, sighing happily at his snoozing minions, and flicked off the lights.

* * *

Star glared at Marco, her most hated foe. Their hands were locked in a glorious contest of wills and martial might.

Her palms were sweaty, his just as bad. Her muscles were sore and tired. But she couldn't give up. Not with what was on the line.

As she glared, she could only think back to what had started this great rift between them.

 _~~~5 Minutes Ago~~~_

"Uuuuuugh! I'm bored!" Star complained as she switched the channels for what felt like the millionth time.

"Me too..." Marco groaned out, sinking into the couch. "What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno, what do you wanna do?"

"Hmm..." He thought for a moment, stroking his chin. "How about a thumb war?"

The princess went rigid. It was _on_.

"Ready for round three?"

How dare he ask her that. Of course she was.

" _Bring it_." She said with all the ferocity she could muster.

* * *

StarFan13 coughed a little makeup powder found its way into her lungs.

Again.

"Sorry," Jackie apologized, "I'm still learning how to do that one properly." She grabbed a little skin toner. It was hard finding men's makeup, but it existed.

"Thanks for doing this for me."

The skater girl smirked, "No problem. It's good practice for when Marco needs help with his zits."

The brunette chuckled in reply.

As Jackie smoothed out some of StarFan13's more feminine features, in preparation for her third practice date with Star tonight, she sighed.

"What's wrong?" StarFan13 asked.

Jackie pursed her lips together, thinking about her next words very carefully. After a pause, she said, "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Doing what?"

"These dates. Why are you putting yourself through them. It must be agony."

The brunette looked a touch nervous. "W-What? No. They're fun, even! They're a lot of work and stuff, and I have to play all this dress up, but it's fine, really."

"That's now what I meant."

"I-I... I-I just..."

"You're one of Star's biggest supporters. You'd do anything for her, even at cost to yourself. You even wrote all those stories about her and Marco because you thought that was what she wanted. Maybe you even convinced yourself it's what you wanted too."

StarFan13's face was devoid of emotion at this point, not wanting to face this question.

Jackie continued, "But I remember the sleepover."

The other teen froze up at those words. Small tears starting to prick at the corners of her eyes.

"So why?"

The dam burst. It was strange for Jackie to hear an anguished voice from the normally cheery girl, "Because this is probably the best chance I'll get! They might be fake, but... but this is as close as I'll ever come. Every now and then, I... I manage to lose myself in it. And it's... magical. She actually kissed my forehead after last time! I almost burst!" She flung her hands from her chest into the air, "It's... everything I always wanted... but then I remember it's fake and... it h-hurts so bad."

The skater girl wrapped her sobbing friend, patting her gently on the head. She asked again, "Why, then?"

StarFan13 sniffed a little, "...because she's worth it."

As Jackie held on, letting the other get it off of her chest, she could only wonder if all this really was worth it.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the short. I was hitting writer's block and made a sort of filler chapter. Some story time, then something silly, then something dramatic. Things get back on track next time for Date 3! No reviews for nearly 5 chapters in a row now. I hope you guys are indeed enjoying this. Regardless of reviews I'll be continuing on. Thanks to cindermane for the help with beta-reading!


	12. Chapter 12

The past seven days had been fairly uneventful for Star - to the point where she wished Ludo would have shown up a week early. The most exciting things to have happened was her thumb war with Marco, which she totally won, and planning for tonight.

As she was getting ready this fine Saturday morning, she found herself excited. She had had a conversation about the third outing with Janna. The laid back girl had guided her on how to go about a date that involved her interests in some way. The delinquent went on to explain that the point was to do something to see if her date would like the same things she did, and to help them get to know each other better.

This had gotten Star's mind racing as to what she was going to do, since this was going to be the first time the 'date' would be of her own design. Her friends had planned out the other four for her, which left her a little unprepared. She'd never had to do anything like this before. Despite being a little lost, she went to work, albeit fruitlessly at first.

It wasn't until she was casually browsing her friends on social media did the inspiration properly hit her. Janna had taken a picture of one of Star's dimensional portals, to which StarFan13 proceeded to fangirl over the fact that she got to go through one. It was easy to forget when she was focused or in a rut about something that a lot of earthlings had never seen much in the way of magical things. They were so completely normal to her that, while she still had plenty of fun with them, it was like playing in the backyard. Earth stuff fascinated her so much because everything was new, so maybe the opposite would be true as well.

So it was that she sent to a text message to StarFan13, telling her to dress in something a little more rugged or outdoorsy. And that they were going to get started early.

Star checked herself in the mirror one more time. She wasn't sure if she should be dressed up more for this, but a practical part of her mind told her that her everyday clothes she wore on her typical adventures would work out best, just in case something dangerous happened. Which was always a possibility, not just in Mewni, but around the princess in general.

With one last glance she made sure her wand was securely in place. She wasn't sure if she was going to need it, but she didn't know how much of this 'date' was going to be just that, and how much of it was going to be an adventure.

Once she found herself ready, she flipped open her phone.

 **Star:** rdy!

A moment later, the conversation began.

 **Janna:** sweet

 **Janna:** were running a lil late

 **Star:** whats wrong

 **Janna:** come over

Star raised her eyebrow a little.

 **Star:** care if I pop in ur rm? save a trip down

 **Janna:** sure. no one by the window

Snapping her phone shut, the princess twirled her dimensional scissors and cut open a hole into Janna's bedroom.

* * *

Janna sat down on her bed, lips pursed in anticipation. Jackie had had a long talk with her and StarFan13 about the validity of what they were doing. The skater girl questioned deeply whether or not they should keep up with their dating plan for Star at all, if this was the right thing to do considering the fangirl's feelings.

While StarFan13 had remained silent throughout most of the discussion, the delinquent had done her best to ease Jackie's concerns. When her attempts were met with a lukewarm response, she opted for a different response. One that should be arriving any second now...

In a flash that startled the quiet nerd in the room, a portal opened up behind Jackie, who had been standing in front of the window. The skater girl only noticed the sudden change of lighting in the room in time to feel someone walking into her, bowling them both over.

Both Star and Jackie shouted in surprise as they both tumbled down onto the floor in a pile. StarFan13 gasped. Janna started laughing.

Propping herself up, the princess rubbed the bump on her forehead where she'd collided. "Hey, what gives!" She looked around the room angrily for a moment, before spotting the laughing delinquent, "Oh. Pft." She realized that she'd been pranked.

"Get off." Came a grumpy reply from underneath her. Looking down, she finally noticed Jackie's blonde hair as she lay face down on the floor. With a little hop, Star quickly stood up.

"Sorry, Jackie!" She exclaimed, holding out her hand to help up the girl on the floor.

"Mph. You're fine, Star. Janna's the one to blame." The skater replied, taking Star's hand and pulling herself up.

"What? It was funny!" Janna shot back.

Jackie tried to stay serious, but, she had to admit it was a little funny.

"So, you all ready, Star?" The skater girl asked, trying to get things moving.

"Yes!" The princess exclaimed, raising her hands into the air excitedly. She turned to StarFan13, who was dressed up in her Starman garb, wearing a set of overhauls for a more rugged day out, "I have big plans for today! How would you..." she paused dramatically, "...like a day trip to MEWNI!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands into air.

For a moment, StarFan13 looked dumbstruck, like a deer in headlights. The princess felt her excitement deflate a little as she wondered if she had made the right choice. Then the other girl let out the highest pitched squeal she had ever heard.

"Oh my god yes! I've always wanted go to Mewni since forever and now you're telling me I get to go this is so awesome oh my god I'm not prepared I don't have my camera or my notebooks and do I have enough money for things or does Mewni even use Earth money or-" StarFan13 gushed, until Star put a finger to her lips.

Smiling wide, the princess said, "I'm glad you're excited! But don't worry about being ready. If you really want to go back another time for tourist-y stuff, I'll take you right away. You'll be getting a tour from the princess of the kingdom herself," she put a hand to her chest, "so you don't need to worry about much. Okay?"

The brunette nodded, eyes sparkling in delight.

"Well, you two have fun. Kelly wants to hang out later; something about another 'break' with Tad." Janna said.

Star perked up curiously, "You hang out with Kelly?"

"Yeah, after that emergency meeting you had before you went to save Mewni, we hung out a bit and hit it off."

The princess smiled, happy to see her different groups of friends getting along.

Jackie tactfully kept quiet, not wanting to mention her own Marco based plans later.

Star pulled out her scissors, "Ready to go?" She asked her date, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Have fun you two." Both Janna and Jackie said at the same time.

In a flourish of motion, the portal to Mewni opened up. Grabbing StarFan13's hand, the princess pulled the both of them through to her kingdom.

* * *

Mewni, the kingdom part of it anyway, was a sea of merchantry and reconstruction. After the takeover by Ludo and the battle with Toffee, there was a lot of work needed to get things back to the way they once were. It had come along nicely, but according to Queen Moon, they were still at least a few months out from completion. It was all worth it though, for both the safety of the people and for finally killing that monster.

It looked like everything and more than StarFan13 had hoped for.

The construction had been a bit of a downer, sure, but the rest of it was wonderful. As they walked through the stalls of the shops on their way to the castle, their first stop, she was astounded by all the weird and magical things that just seemed commonplace here. Including the weird calzones that could predict your death. As much as she wondered, eating something that talked didn't sit right with her.

It was also interesting to see the people greeting the young Butterfly. She knew that Star was a princess, an alien, extra-dimensional magical princess, but to actually see her being greeted by honest to goodness medieval looking commoners - people who probably have never met her before until now - acknowledging it made it seem all the more real somehow.

Walking hand and hand with the blonde had made her self conscious, more so than usual. Considering how she was dressed, the few knowing looks they got from passers by put a deep worry in her chest. The whispers about the 'red-shirted boy' that Star was seen with last certainly didn't help her confidence, nor the pangs of jealousy.

There was, thankfully, plenty of wondrous distractions to keep her mind off of it, and while it took some effort, she was able to put aside her anxieties and let herself have fun.

Star had dropped them off just on the kingdom's urban limits, on purpose, she had said, in order to give her the full tour. As such, it had taken them nearly two hours - two hours of shopping, laughing, seeing the sights (including the three - _three!_ \- moons) - before they finally arrived at this destination.

StarFan13 could only stare up at the castle with awe.

"Welcome to... my house!" Star exclaimed happily, doing a little flourish as she introduced her home.

"House? This is a castle! I've never been in a castle before." The brunette replied, voice shaking giddily.

She watched as the princess stepped forward and kicked the doors open, the loud boom echoing throughout the inner halls and startling more than a few servants and construction workers.

Star chuckled awkwardly at all the stares, "Eh-heh... oopsie!"

StarFan13 had continued to stare in awe at the castle before her, especially the lavish halls and tapestries that lines them. She might very well had stood there for an hour if not for the princess grabbing her hand and dragging her along. "Come on, silly! There's more to the castle than just the entry way. Let me show you around!"

"Just a quick tour for now. We still have so much to see after this! Like the Forest of Certain Death!" Star began, though the brunette wasn't sure how to feel about that one, "this entryway mostly just leads leads to a bunch of extra halls, mostly for servant bedrooms and storage. Up ahead here on the left is the library."

The brunette stopped and stared for a moment at the large assortment of books. Books from another dimension - from her perspective - that probably held who knows what kind of magical secrets and great histories about this place. There was enough here to fill a lifetime's worth of reading. Sure, she'd probably get bored after a year or so, but that year...

The blonde insistent hand tug ripped her away from yet another trance. "If you want some of the books, we can check a few out before we go back to Earth."

"Eee! That'd be the best! Thank you, Star!" StarFan13 said excitedly, wrapping the blonde in a hug.

The princess was stunned for a moment, but soon returned it happily. They stayed that way for a little longer than either had intended, but it was a good hug. Moments later, the Mewman continued the tour.

"Right. So, on the right now we have the kitchen. Which, you can probably guess, is close to the dining hall. I have it booked just for us so we can eat later. Something good before we head out."

StarFan13 grinned and asked, " _Cornstuffs_?"

Star gave a mock gasp, "How did you know?"

The two giggled as they went along. The princess continued to point out rooms here and there as they traveled through the halls, occasionally stopping to talk to and thank various workers around who had been about.

Eventually, they got to a room Star readily entered. "And here's one of my favorite places in the whole castle. The armoury!"

A huge variety of weapons of all shapes and sizes covered the walls. Racks of equipment made it into somewhat of a maze, almost like a supermarket of death. To one side, armoured mannequins were lined up, along with straw dummies for practice.

It was hard to remember sometimes that Star was part of what was basically a warrior people, who had taken Mewni through vicious conquest. The princess' own violent tendencies still shocked her from time to time, but they were always fun to watch. And while this kind of things wasn't her favorite in the world, her favorite person liked it a lot, which meant she liked it too.

"I used to come here all the time, despite what my mom kept telling me. My dad encouraged it a lot, except when mom was around." She giggled a little at the memory, and continued, "Now I mostly just use my wand. It beats the hilts off of any of these! But I still like it."

StarFan13 wandered around the place, looking at all of the various weapons around, careful to avoid touching anything that looked remotely too sharp. At least, until she spotted something on the wall. A gasp came out as she moved towards it, "Is that...?" She asked, pointing to a unicorn horn on the wall.

"Huh? Oh! That's a warnicorn horn. After carrying my dad around for years on his escapades as his mighty steed, he eventually died during a battle with some monsters. With his last breath, he gifted his horn to dad. That's about as much as I know about it though. I don't think it's a weapon. Here!" Star proceeded to take it off of the wall and tossed it to the brunette.

StarFan13 caught it awkwardly, "Uhh... should we be touching this? It seems a little disrespect... ful..." She trailed off as the horn began to sparkle and glow.

The two watched on in awe at the horn as it grew a hilt out of the base. Cautiously, the human grabbed it. Almost stabbing Star, her reflexes enough to spare her any harm, the horn shot out like a spear. Once it was seemingly satisfied with its length, it lingered a moment, before glowing even more brightly. StarFan13 felt a weight manifest at the end of the spear that hadn't been there before, which made her grip weaken and the heavy end to thud onto the ground.

Once they could see again, they let out a small gasp. The end of the weapon had turned into an ornate warhammer, with half of the horn poking out the top like a spike.

"It's never done that before." The princess said, looking at it in wonder.

* * *

A/N: This chapter took a while, and part two took even longer. These two are some of the longest chapters in this story (with part two being the longest in the story so far). Things are closing in fast, and we're chugging along. I'm estimating another 5-8 chapters left in this story. I don't wanna say for sure yet.

Big thanks to cindermane, without whom this story wouldn't be near as good as it is.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Well, this is curious indeed!" River said, stroking his long, blonde beard, "never thought I'd see the day my old steed's horn would actually do something!"

"Warnicorn horns are strange, powerful, yet fickle things. Often, it's up to the beast's last wishes what might happen after they perish, if anything at all." Queen Moon added.

"I'm going to have to remember what those words were! In the meantime, how would you like to learn how to use that thing?" He offered.

Standing before the King and Queen of Mewni, Star and StarFan13 listened intently. A mixed sensation of awe and being freaked out had led them to seek out the royals for some advice on the matter. Turns out, they didn't know much about it either, except enough to say that it was safe. Probably.

The brunette shuffled nervously, "I-I'm not sure, sir. I'm not really much of a fighter..."

Figuring that her friend was too nervous meeting her parents to notice, Star got an idea. Leaning in, she said, "You knooooow... this is like those cartoons of yours. Coming across a magical artifact that chooses the hero..."

She watched the way her date's realization set in, the absolute wonderment and joy in her eyes was just too cute.

StarFan13 looked between the princess and the king a few times, before composing her excitement to avoid freaking out in front of royalty. Giving a small bow, she said, "I would be honoured, sir."

"Hah! Good on you, lad! Now, come on! Back to the armoury!" River shouted, raising his fists excitedly in the air.

Star was just about to follow the two excitable people when she felt a hand on her shoulder, "Star, I'd like a word."

The blonde shuddered; she knew that tone of voice. She turned around to meet her mother's gaze, "What is it?" She asked.

"I've heard talk from the palace staff that you've been rather close to this friend of yours. Walking through the market and the castle hand in hand. Rumours of a potential suitor are already floating about. What is the truth of the matter, Star? And why is she dressed like that?" Queen Moon asked sternly.

The princess rubbed her head with her hand. Of course her mother would have heard something by now, and of course she'd notice StarFan13's clothes. She started to explain, but found herself hesitant at the first words despite them being true, "It's not like that! This is just a practice date." Realizing what she said, she quickly added, "Wait! Let me explain. After..." she sighed, reeling her emotions in before continuing, "After I blurted out my feelings to Marco, while he was actively dating someone else, in front a whole lot of people, AND he turned me down, I was pretty bummed out."

The Queen's gaze softened. She quietly placed a comforting gloved hand on Star's shoulder and let her continue.

"All my Earth gal pals, and Pony Head, though she bailed on the idea pretty early on, got together to try and do something for me. They know that I don't know a lot about Earth stuff, and figured that the whole mess could have been avoided if I just knew more about Earth dating culture. I mean, I sure wasn't expecting it to be so complicated! So they went and set up a big thing to take me on typical Earth dates and try to give me lessons on how it all works.

"It's actually helped a lot. I haven't learned as much as they might have hoped, but it's... it's helped me feel a lot better. I've been able to hang around with my best friend again without feeling sad. I've even noticed that Marco and Jackie are avoiding mentioning what they do together around me, so I don't have to face it until they know I'm over it." She sniffed a little, wiping her eye, "They've all really come together for me."

"Oh Star..." Moon said, kneeling down and pulling her daughter into a hug, "I'm so glad to hear you have friends that can help you where I cannot. I was so worried for you, but with the kingdom in such a distressing state..." She sighed, guilt of her neglect weighing on her, "I know that's no excuse for pushing you to the side. I'm sorry, Star."

The princess wiped her eye and returned the hug warmly, "It's okay mom. I get it."

For a simple, quiet moment, the two simply hugged. It had felt like age since Star had just been able to hug her own mother and share a tender moment with her. For all the times they misunderstood one another, the times they disagreed, they were still family, and they loved each other.

Standing up with a serene smile, Moon went to a different subject, "I take it that your friend has been the subject of your dates?"

Star blushed a little, "Uh, yeah. Janna's been masterminding the whole thing. Jackie's been giving feedback and handling dress up. And StarFan13's - " the Queen's brow raised at the name, " - been the one to take me out and teach me things. This is the third one. A date about me and what I'm into."

"I see... but why is she dressed like a boy?"

"I have no idea! They've been talking about traditional stuff and modern stuff and it's kind of confusing so I've just been rolling with it. I haven't really said anything about it because it's been kind of funny playing tricks on people with it during the dates."

"Earth is rather strange, isn't it?"

The princess giggled, "Yeah. And I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Well, how about we see what nonsense and... I'm sorry, her name is so... silly." The Queen said, scrunching up her face as the pair began walking towards the armory.

Star laughed, "You get used to it. Apparently everyone on the internet is named something like that."

"Internet?"

"Another long story."

They finished conversing just in time to see the spectacle. River and StarFan13 each wielded a hammer, a maul and warnicorn hammer, respectively. Raising each high above their heads, they charged at one another, all the while screaming war cries that made them sound like lunatics.

What proceeded could be generously interpreted as combat, but mostly boiled down to both parties swinging weapons too big to handle gracefully, while flailing out of the way of each other's ponderous attacks.

It was amazing. And hilarious.

Still, Star found it impressive that the brunette was able to swing it around as she was. She could barely lift the thing when it first appeared.

The princess clapped excitedly as she watched them finished, her mother opting to simply smile in reserved amusement. StarFan13 turned to the sound, and flushed a little, both at the embarrassment of an audience and from exertion. River was barely breathing hard, activities like this commonplace for him, and as such, was the first to speak.

"Ah! Moon and Star, my two favorite girls. This one's got talent!" He proclaimed, thumbing towards the brunette.

"So I saw! You did good." Star said, giving her date a thumbs up, earning her some cute flustering from the girl. "Worked up an appetite?" She then asked.

StarFan13's only response was a nod, too out of breath from the exercise to say much else.

"Oooh! I could use a bite to eat myself!" The King chimed in.

"Sorry dad!" The princess said as she walked over to grab the brunette's hand, "Private lunch!"

"Oh bother." River replied, watching as the two walked off. Now standing next to his queen, he slammed his fist into his palm, "Ah! Now I remember! He said that his horn was to go to someone who would help protect my line. Hadn't the foggiest clue what he meant at the time, but maybe he meant Star?"

"Perhaps, dear." Moon said with a knowing smile.

"He must have been getting senile in his age though. He said it was a maiden that'd make it work!" He said, scratching his head in confusion.

The Queen facepalmed.

* * *

After an extremely corn filled lunch to top themselves off until they returned to Earth, Star had proclaimed that they were to go into the woods on a little adventure. After all, what was more 'Star' than seeking out thrills?

"You know, I'm pretty glad you found that hammer thingy. I was actually planning on getting you to pick something to use for this trip, to keep yourself safe. Unless you have some secret fighting skill I don't know about?" The princess asked, receiving a negative head shake in response, "Okay, good, I didn't offend your warrior then." She added.

"Well, just because I have this hammer now, doesn't mean I'll be able to use it to hit something." She looked down at the hammer in her hands, "I've never really hurt... anything, before." She loved everything about Star, but the violent aspect of the princess wasn't something she was comfortable engaging in herself just yet.

"Hmm... well, hopefully you don't have too. Just kinda, like, lift it up high and growl a bit to scare things off."

"Like this?" StarFan13 asked, proceeding to do just that, though her growl was more akin to a mewl.

The princess immediately had to balance herself against a tree to avoid toppling over from laughter. She wasn't trying to be mean, but it struck her as hilarious.

After a moment, she did notice that her date was shuffling uncomfortably. Taking a few gasping breaths to calm herself down, Star managed between giggles to say, "Sorry! Hee-hee! Sorry just... that was so cute oh my god." She could barely contain another giggle fit.

The 'cute' remark had at least eased StarFan13's embarrassment, and brought a little color to the girl's face.

A sudden noise in the forest alerted them that something was nearby. The brunette clutched her hammer close to her chest protectively, though it wouldn't do much good for her like that. Star was used to such events, and sprang into action immediately.

Pointing her wand towards, the two waited in a tense silence for a moment. The princess broke it first, "Who's there?" She called out.

Before either of them could react, a blinding flash made the two shout in pain as the light stung their eyes. Taking advantage of the distraction, their assailant fled.

After all, Ghillie was just a spy. Not to mention attacking them now would be breaking Lord Ludo's agreement.

"What was that!?" The brunette exclaimed, blinking repeatedly to get the spots to go away.

"I have no idea, but whatever it was, it doesn't belong here. Come on, let's go after it!" Star said, the excitement dripping from her voice.

StarFan13 finally got a clear look at the princess' face. She always seemed so alive, but somehow, she was even moreso now. This was the blonde in her favoured element, and it showed.

Grabbing onto the human's hand, Star rushed off after the fleeing whatever it was. Her companion's feet barely touched the ground as they charged through the brush. Each passing moment a blur of colors filled StarFan13's vision while the princess kept her eyes out for signs of her quarry.

What she wasn't keeping an eye out for, however, was whether or not the ground they were running across was sound.

Her eyes turned upwards as she caught sight of Ghillie swinging through the trees. She didn't see the admittedly small cliff just in front of her through the brush. With a yelp of surprise, both girls went tumbling down the three foot drop. Bushes thankfully broke their fall, leaving them only slightly disheveled and earning a few scrapes.

"Oww..." StarFan13 complain as she pulled a twig out of her hair, "What happened."

"Sorry! I looked up when I should have been looking down." Star said as she got up. After a moment of dusting herself off, she held out her hand to pick up her date.

Taking the offered hand, the brunette rose to her feet and looked around. "Where are we?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I've never been to this part of the woods before. After a while it all kind of blends together so I never bothered exploring _everywhere_. Still, we'll be fine. I got my scissors." She said, smiling as she went to reach for her dimensional tool.

Just as she was about to grab it, StarFan13 spotted something behind her and shouted, "Duck!"

Instinctively, the princess ducked down at the word. Her eyes turned up again just in time to see the Warnicorn Hammer sail over her head. A familiar sounding thud told her it had hit something.

Quickly turning around with her wand out, she spotted the threat. A group of small, furry green monsters were surrounding them, all growling with foam in their mouths. The one that the hammer had struck was nursing a bump on its head.

"What do we do?" StarFan13 nervously asked.

"Just follow my lead..." The princess raised up her wand. Magical energies began to coalesce. "Cotton Candy Storm!"

With a flourish of her wand, a sea of rainbow colored cotton candy flowed from her and out towards the little beasts that surrounded them. Not only did this serve to startle them, they found themselves trapped in a prison of sugary delight.

"Hey! It worked! Now, run!" Star shouted, laughing as she grabbed onto her friend's hand and made a break for it.

Together, they ran off towards the first break in the brush. Footfalls and breaking branches echoed in their movements. Twigs and leaves sticking in their hair and scratching their skin. Adrenaline pumped through them, garnering excitement in the blonde and mild panic in the brunette.

"See anything!?" Star asked, keeping her eyes ahead to avoid falling down another cliff.

"I-I think s-so!" StarFan13 said, voice shaking from the running. Then she spotted something, "Uh oh!"

Swinging her hammer - which was a pain with just one arm - she knocked a cotton candy covered beastie out of the air, sending it flying into a tree.

The princess had managed a quick glance back just in time to see it happen, "Nice shot!"

The human continued to swing around her hammer, putting her arm to its limits as she tried to shoo away their pursuers. With Star acting as the guide, the brunette simply had to keep them at bay. She just hoped they could get away in time before her limb gave out.

"Ah! This way!" The princess shouted.

Sliding to her knees, adding a few more scrapes - nothing she wasn't used too - she began to crawl into a rocky tunnel. It was a tight fit, but she squeezed in and yelled, "Hurry!"

Looking around in a panic for the beasts, StarFan13 dropped down to her knees, and looked between her hammer and the cramped tunnel. "How am I going to fit you?"

As if responding to her command, which is exactly what it was doing, the once hammer retreated back to its compact warnicorn horn shape. "Oh... I was wondering what I was going to do with you when I got back home."

"StarFan13! Hurry!"

Snapping out of it, the human stowed away the horn, "Right!"

Crouching low into the tunnel, she set off wiggling through. The sensation of nibbling on her boots made her kick out violently, sending another of the things whimpering away.

After nearly a minute of panicked crawling, Star whispered, "I think I see a way out! Are they following us?"

StarFan13 braved a look behind her, and sighed in relief. Nothing obstructed her view of the other end of the tunnel. "I think we're safe."

A few moments later, the two emerged from the exit, into a small clearing. Both took the chance to catch their breaths, using each other for support. The brunette far more winded than the adventurous princess.

"T-that was..." StarFan13 began between gasps.

"Amazing!" Star exclaimed.

"I don't know... If I would... Call that... Amazing." The Brunette replied between gasps of air.

"Don't be modest, you were awesome!" Praised the blonde.

The human flushed a little, "W-what?"

"The way you smashed that thing! It was coming right for the back of my neck, ngah ngah!" The princess added in a few teeth gnashing sound effects, "and then you were all _woosh_! **Slam**!" Then she added quietly, "And you said you weren't much of a warrior."

Fidgeting shyly, the brunette managed to get out, "Well... you were in trouble. I had to do something."

Not it was Star's turn to flush a little. "Aww! Thanks!" She said, wrapping up her friend in a big hug.

The hug was returned warmly, and the two stood like that for a solid minute. Quietly, Star grabbed StarFan13's hand, and started leading her again. Far more gently than before. Both wore quiet smiles on their face, neither wanting to break the moment. Picking up on the position of Mewni's weird moons, the princess had an inkling as to where they had ended up. She was thankful to be right.

"Wow..." StarFan13 gasped, the air leaving her lungs at the sight.

"I thought this place looked familiar. I could always see this part of the forest from my room, but I could never find it."

Mewni's sun was cresting over the horizon, bathing the entire kingdom in a beautiful glow. From atop the cliffside, the moat that surrounded Castle Butterfly and the peasantry sparkled like nothing she had ever seen. Strange creatures of all sorts traveled by water, land, and air. The townspeople and castle servants took the time to start lighting nighttime candles and torches, creating a brilliant display of flickering lights over the wondrous construction.

It was truly magical.

To Star, however, the look of wonderment on StarFan13's face was even better.

Dropping to the ground, the princess let her legs relax. She let out a heavy breath, "Phoo... this has been quite the day, huh?" She asked.

The brunette took another moment to properly drink in the view before responding, "Y-Yeah..." She sat down a moment later.

Letting out a yawn, the blonde leaned in against her date, and closed her eyes. "After all that, I could use a nap."

StarFan13 sputtered silently at the sudden closeness. "I-I-"

"Shh... Nap time." The princess whispered.

Obeying, the human remained silent. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears as she felt Star's head on her shoulder. The brunette choked down the lump in her throat as she tried not to freak out. If she didn't stay calm, she would ruin the moment.

Getting brave, she reached out and placed her hand atop the blonde's, causing her to stir. StarFan13 almost shied away, but before she could, Star's fingers threaded through her own, locking her in place.

In the whole of this new, wonderful land, it was this, the princess of it all, that was far above the rest.

Closing her eyes, Starfan13 found sleep came to her all too soon.

* * *

A flash came from the bushes, unknown to either girl. Mechanical whirring could be heard over the stillness of the forest. A moment later, a monster emerged from the bushes and approached them. Gently setting something down, Ghillie made his leave.

* * *

Stirring awake, StarFan13 looked around the area. She didn't feel in danger - she felt quite safe, in fact - despite the strange surroundings. Star's warmth against her provided all the security she needed.

As she stretched out her leg, the brunette felt something pointy poke into her. Frowning, she made a grab for the offending object. Taking a look at it, she gasped.

It was a picture of her and Star, napping together in the clearing, twigs in their hair, scrapes on their hands and knees.

A tear traveled down her cheek, and to the air, she said, "Thank you."

* * *

A/N: This is by and far the longest chapter I've written for this story. It got away from me, but I like it. This marks Chapter 13 of the series, and StarFan13 gets herself a win.

I added in the Warnicorn Hammer because Star vs. The Forces of Evil is an action show, and the main characters are action oriented. I plan on ending this by wrapping it back up into the show itself, so I wanted StarFan13 to have a way to be a main character. In my headcannon at least.

Thanks for reading, and once again, thanks to cindermane for the beta reading! See y'all in two weeks.


	14. Chapter 14

Star felt exceptionally giddy that Sunday morning. Showing StarFan13 around her homeland had been so much fun! She really needed to do something for her friends one of these day. Not only was she getting over the whole Marco thing, which was getting her her best friend back, but she was also having a blast in the process. Deep in her soul, she just felt better than she had in forever.

Yes, she was definitely going to do something nice for them. Especially StarFan13, who by and far has done most of the leg work.

But that got her thinking. What could she do that would be good enough?

This was her dominant thought as she got ready that morning, and despite taking an extra long shower, she still hadn't figured it out.

It was time to seek a little advice.

"Marco Diaz was alone in his room, being a huge nerd, when suddenly, a magical princess arrived!" Star shouted as she burst open her housemate's door.

The boy jumped in his chair, pencil falling to the floor. "Guh, Star! I'm trying to finish my homework!"

The girl gasped, "Homework? On a Sunday morning? You really are a nerd." She said teasingly.

"Hah hah, Star. I was out all weekend and now I'm behind. Having a girlfriend takes up way more free time than I thought." He said with a hint of exasperation. Then he flinched and covered his mouth as he realized what he just said.

It stung a little, she had to admit, but suddenly her smile widened. Before, she would have gotten particularly upset at those words and gone into a funk for days. And here she was now, able to smile it off.

"It's fine, Marco. I'm glad you and Jackie had a nice time." And most of her meant it. She simply ignored the part that didn't.

Marco beamed at this. Only three weeks in and Star was almost back to her old self. "You seem to be doing a lot better."

"Yeah! All thanks to the girls. I'm feeling better all the time!" She started, "In fact, that's kind of why I'm here."

"What's up?" He asked politely.

"Well, they've been so good to me, and I want to do something nice for them. I've hit a bit of a wall, though. I just can't think of anything!"

The boy smirked, "You've mellowed out Star. A few months ago and you would've just showered them with traditional Mewni gift sharks or something. Now look at you, thinking ahead."

Star pouted indignantly, "No I wouldn't have!" Marco gave her a deadpan look, "Well, okay, maybe I would've done _something_ like that. You're right. Good job. Now help me!"

Marco chuckled, "Alright, alright." He paused to think for a moment. "Well, first off, I don't know much about what Pony Head likes other than parties-"

The princess cut him off, "She bailed on it after the first meeting we had. She thought it was too dumb."

That made him frown a bit, but then shrugged, "Well, typically, the best gifts are those that mean a lot to them. Like, with Jackie, she'd probably love something to do with skateboarding. Or pizza. I've only known Janna for a little while, and other than liking pink, I don't really know. Maybe ask her other friends?"

Star nodded in understanding. It wasn't a perfect answer, but it gave her a lead. Then it hit her, "Wait. What about StarFan13?" She asked.

"Pfft. You're kidding, right? You could probably give her anything and she'd probably build a shrine around it. That girl is _pretty_ obsessed."

She frowned a little, "Why'd you say it like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like you think she's weird for it."

"I-I- I don't think she's... _that_ weird. But she does kind of go a little off the deep end sometimes. You have to have noticed by now."

"...is what she does not normal?"

"Well, it is, in moderation. Celebrity obsession is common. StarFan13 errs a bit on the extreme side, though. I mean, most people just follow along in magazines or watch everything with such and such actor. She writes stories about you! Us, even! I've read some of them, they're crazy huge and surprisingly well written for someone her age." He then stopped to think a moment, "You _have_ noticed it, right?"

She looked ashamed of herself for a moment, "Nothing on Earth is normal to me. To me, you all act so strange all the time that I don't really know what passes for weird here. I thought that's just... Who she was and what she liked. I didn't think anything was... odd, about that, so I... I didn't really say anything."

Marco watched as she rubbed her arm awkwardly. Then he sighed, "I forget sometimes you're technically an alien." He said, though there was no technically about it, "StarFan13's obsession is more than what is normally seen as okay. There's nothing entirely wrong with it, but it is kind of weird to most people." He thought his next words carefully, "I've seen her do things, things that weren't exactly healthy, just because you had something to do with it."

Star had always taken note of StarFan13's behavior. She was never sure how much of it was just friendly Earth behavior and how much was... something else?

She wasn't sure, really.

"I... have to go do something." The princess said suddenly.

Marco frowned, "Star, whatever you're thinking of doing, think it out. It would devastate her if you just outright told her to stop, or worse."

The princess flinched at those words. Would it really?

"I'm going..." She sighed, "yeah. I'll think it through."

With that said, she made her leave, suddenly having a lot to think about.

* * *

Star looked down at her phone, worry marred on her face. There was a text she had written sitting on the screen, her thumb just over the send button.

The bench had gotten pretty cozy over the last twenty minutes or so. Her thoughts about StarFan13 had gotten pretty heavy during that time, and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

What had she done to get that much obsession out of someone? She hadn't really done anything than be herself, and that hadn't really felt like it was enough to get that kind of reaction. She put a hand to her face, thinking about all the times she inadvertently fed the behaviour, like the time she wallpapered her locker with pictures of StarFan13 because the girl had done the same, but for Star, or simply keeping quiet or even smiling during her more eccentric moments.

The princess sighed as her thumb continued into its third minute of hovering. She knew why she was nervous; her lax understanding of Earth culture had reached a new peak with this. She was terrified of saying the wrong way simply because she didn't know any better.

She balled her fist. Once again she was letting things get to her. First her crush on Marco, and now whatever this was with StarFan13. She was getting fed up with her own insecurities and it was time for action!

She made a little explosion noise as her thumb came down.

 **Star:** can you meet me in the park by your place?

Then she hid.

It was silly, but she wanted to see the other girl when she thought she was alone, to see how deep this whatever it was went. Even running, it should take the other girl at minimum ten minutes to get here.

Time to wait.

And wait she did, for a whole eight minutes.

From her little hiding spot behind a tree, she spotted StarFan13 making her way hurriedly into the park. The girl's hair was damp, either because she took a shower beforehand or the text had interrupted one in progress. The fact that she could see a few drops still coming off of the brown locks, and the way the girl was completely out of breath, revealed to Star that not only had she ran there the entire way, but she had opted to air dry herself instead of toweling off as well.

Star frowned a little at that.

She continued to watch as the girl took a moment to pause for breath and to look herself over. A quick check, and the brunette found that the pajama pants she had put on in a hurry were on backwards. The princess couldn't quite make out what was being said, but the other girl was clearly talking to herself in a panic.

After a moment, StarFan13 took a deep breath, and made a motion with her hand from her forehead to her belly while exhaling. She repeated it a few more times until she looked visibly calmer and less out of breath. A moment later, she pulled out her flash cards, and rifled through them. Apparently she hadn't forgotten those.

All in all, the display was a little disconcerting for the princess.

Star stepped out of her hiding place, and asked with a somber tone, "How long were you going to wait here?"

StarFan13 immediately jumped at the sudden sound, her calm thrown completely off, "W-What? Star! Oh my god, I-I..." She stuttered.

"I didn't send a time with that text, just that I wanted to meet with you. How long were to planning on waiting before saying anything?"

"I don't- that's not, I-"

"I probably interrupted your shower and you ran straight here the whole way... Why would you do that?"

StarFan13 started blubbering, her thoughts incoherent, tears pricking at her eyes. Noticing just how upset the girl was getting, the princess immediately chastised herself for treating her friend like this, and walked over to her. Placing her hands down on the human's shoulders, she spoke, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that. Shh... Calm down, it's fine, I'm not mad or anything. Well except at myself."

Still noticing the shaking, Star wrapped her in a hug. "I just... I don't get it. Marco told me that your... intensity towards me isn't normal for Earth. I've never really had someone this... fanatical about me, I guess. I mean, sure, some Mewmans are pretty into their royalty but... Well, you aren't one of my mom's subjects. I don't really know what I did for this. I feel like... like I've messed you up somehow."

Star had taken the time to spill her guts about everything that had been bothering her since her conversation with Marco that morning. It felt strange to just empty out her thoughts about someone to that person. She barely even knew what she was doing right now, but she had to try and make right something she felt she had done wrong.

During the speech and the ensuing silence, StarFan13 had calmed down, the hug helping quite a bit. Sniffing, she pulled back to look the princess in the eyes, "Star... You haven't done anything to me. I've... always been this way."

The blonde gave her a curious look, and StarFan13 continued, "I have a really..." she sighed, "obsessive personality, I guess? I mean, I've thought about it a lot before, because of the looks I get sometimes but...well, I've always been like this, and yeah, the looks hurt, but I'm happy like this. I kind of understand what you mean, I've never really been like this towards a person I actually know, but you're so amazing! How could I not?

"Before, it used to just be my shows and books and things. It was... Easy, to just lose myself in something. I would get so excited and I'd be happy as long as I ignored the whispers and stares. It was nice, you know?"

The princess raised her hand, placing it on the other girl's cheek, "I can't say that I get it, exactly, but it is nice to hear that you're doing something that makes you happy. Heh... here I was worried I'd hurt you and didn't even take your feelings into account about it. It's really starting to hit home just how much of Earth stuff I don't understand and I just keep worrying about it now. I'm sorry."

"No! No, you never hurt me at all! I've just... Always been me. And I like me the way I am."

Star giggled, "Good. I like you too. The way you are."

The brunette smiled at that. Taking the blonde's hand in her own, she made her way over to the bench, sitting then both down.

"When you first came to Earth, I saw you doing your magic at school. That's when it happened. You were just like the characters that I obsessed over in my cartoons, but you were _real._ I couldn't believe it! A real live magical princess not only existed, but was going to my school. It was amazing watching you do your thing. I wanted to be part of it so bad, but I knew I wasn't that popular. There was no way, right? ...And then you made friends with me anyway; me, just a lonely nerd with no friends that I could talk to in person. It made me feel so special." She smiled warmly. "That was when I changed my name."

Star cocked her head in confusion, "StarFan13 isn't your... You know, I haven't met another earthling with a number in their name. I should have realized. But... I mean, I'm really flattered, but isn't that a little much?"

StarFan13 just shrugged.

A quiet giggle came from the princess, "Well... Do I get to learn your real name then?"

"StarFan13 is my real name now. It's the name I wanted, the name I picked for myself. It's a name that makes me happy." She said with a smile.

"Heh-heh... okay. Thanks, then, StarFan13. This makes me feel a whole lot better." The young Butterfly said, wrapping her friend in a warm hug.

Soon, she broke the hug and got up, doing a cartwheel across the grass of the park. Her cheerfulness had returned and she was filled with energy again. "Say... I'm feeling pumped right now. Marco's busy doing his stupid homework and I'm just itching for an adventure. Wanna grab your hammer and come with me, just the two of us?"

StarFan13 gasped, her eyes lighting up. "Yes!"

* * *

AN: Thanks again to cindermane for the edit! Star and StarFan13 wanted a little character development, and I couldn't say no.


	15. Chapter 15

Ludo sipped quietly from his goblet, the dark red fluid within quenching his thirst. Plans upon plans lay strewn out before him. Some of them he felt were brilliant. Others, not so much. He was surprised how much joy it brought him to actually carefully consider his schemes before putting them into motion. He even had advisors to help find the flaws in his machinations; which was a tough pill to swallow at first, but after unsuccessfully securing a cornmeal supply because he ignored something little Buffrog Jr pointed out, he understood the value of a second opinion.

He took another sip from his goblet and said, "Thank you for the recommendation, Junior, the red juice is my favorite now."

The little monster giggled happily behind his sippy cup.

"The supply lines we've decided should feed the army until we're ready for some proper conquering. Which leaves recruitment, intel, and Star before we can start properly planning. How is the recruitment coming along?" The monster lord asked.

One of his advisors spoke up, "Well, recruitment from the northern reaches of the dimension have not gone well. Only two decided to join us from there. However, cross dimensional recruitment is going splendidly. Descendants of the Mewni massacre who fled the realm are just itching for some revenge."

"Excellent! I like recruits who are fueled by revenge. They're vindictive, spiteful, and best of all, cheap! And they'll probably just go home afterwards so I don't have worry about paying them. Now, what about intel?"

A different monster spoke up this time, "We've been keeping track of Butterfly Castle's defenses during the reconstruction. There are holes our men have been ensuring stay unplugged. We've lost two so far, but there are still five others in place big enough to let troops through."

"Excellent. This redundant planning thing is great! Just ensure that no more than two of the remaining are lost. At least three ways in will make this go much smoother."

"As you command, Lord Ludo."

"Now. For Star... Ghillie, what have you to report?"

The monster, still in his leafy outfit, threw several photos onto the table, "The princess has been recovering from her emotional imbalance. I am still unsure of the cause, but I have noted what has been helping."

He motioned to a photo, of a brown haired boy in glasses walking hand in hand with Star, "I have gathered that these two have begun to date, and it's helped her, it seems."

Ludo looked over the pictures. "Hmm... Interesting. I thought she was seeing Marco. Maybe that's why she was so out of it. I'd wager they broke up or something. Alright. Make sure all the minions see that picture. We're to avoid this new boyfriend of hers at all costs."

His combat advisor spoke up, "Avoid, sir? It seems like he'd be a tactical asset."

"Normally, you'd be right. But this is Star Butterfly we're talking about. Did you see what she did to Toffee!? If we kidnapped her new boyfriend, she'd probably go all super bug mode and level my castle. Again! No, we stay away from anyone she might get... Oversensitive about. Ghillie, have you found any potential candidates for kidnapping?"

"I have. She seems to have some Earth friends that I think would make good candidates. Friend enough to get a strong response, but not enough to send her into a rage. I have only been able to view their interactions a few times, but these seem to be the best choices from what I've seen."

Ludo sifted through the pictures. One was of Jackie, having a casual chat with Star. Another was of Janna graffiting some wall, with the princess laughing at her side. The last showed her hugging it out with StarFan13 in the park. This one caught his eye for some reason.

He held up the picture, and next to it, held the picture of Star and her boyfriend. He looked between the two brunettes, back and forth, "Hmm... Do these two look familiar to anyone?"

None of the monsters spoke for a few seconds, before Junior raised his hand, "Never seen hoomans afore. They don't look different."

"I know, right? Humans completely lack beaks or feathers or even tentacles! Marco's the only one I've seen in person, and these two look like him." Ludo replied.

He held the picture of StarFan13 in his hand for a moment, contemplating the course of action, when suddenly the doors were thrown open.

"What! Who dares interrupt my meeting?" Ludo asked.

A monster, looking nervous, shuffled, "I-I'm sorry, Lord Ludo, but I have had news about the Star Butterfly task force."

The Lord frowned, "What is it? Will they still be able to perform their second attack?"

"N-Not on time, or not as good. Keystone and Linchpin both caught a cold."

Ludo grumbled and swept a hand down his face in annoyance; he had given them those code names for a reason. "Well, this is just great! Either I break my word or I send a subpar show of power. Wonderful! Just wonderful... Alright, hold on, maybe I could still make this work."

He pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number that Ghillie had recently found.

It rang three times. By the third, he was tapping his finger impatiently.

" _Hi! Kind in the middle of- Duck!"_ Shouted Star on the other line.

Ludo grimaced and pulled the phone away from his ear. Bringing it back, but hovering a safe distance from his ear, he continued, "Ah, yes, you sound busy, so I'll be quick."

" _Wait- Who is this?"_

The monster frowned, "It's Lud-" He was interrupted by a crashed. "Look, I'll try to be quick."

" _Wha- who? Watch out for the-"_ Some shuffling came from the phone, " _What is it?"_

"We're supposed to have our f-" A crash drowned him out, but he continued, "in two days on Thursday, but some of my minions are a little under the weather. Can we resched-", another shout, "-for, say, four days from n-?" A final crash interrupted his last word. He hoped she heard.

" _Yeah, sure, whatever. I gotta go!"_ Star replied, urgency in her voice.

Ludo smiled, despite the phone hanging up in his ear. "That went well. Okay! So we're still on for the raid, but it'll be this Saturday." This earned him several displeased groans, "I know, I know. I promised you weekends off, but this is a special case. Ah! Idea! We're well on schedule, so how about you all take the rest of the day and tomorrow off?"

The monsters gathered before him cheered at that, and promptly ran out of the room to enjoy their sudden freedom from work.

Ludo smiled to himself. Here he was handling a problem creatively, instead of getting mad and trying to force it until failure. He felt proud of himself, and things were starting to look up for him.

Deciding to finish the debriefing himself, he went over the remaining papers on the round desk. He made note to check in on some rumours of another great evil brewing on the horizon. Maybe they could team up? The thought made him giddy. Or maybe he should attempt to snuff out the competition? Both options sounded delightful.

Casting the information aside for now - he had more immediate concerns - he drew his attention towards the picture of StarFan13.

He picked it up and twirled it in his hand.

"Hmm... Yes. You'll do nicely."

His evil laughter echoed in the empty chamber.

* * *

Star panted heavily, leaning up against a tree for support. She had taken StarFan13 out for another adventure, since the last one after their talk had gone so well. But this one had gotten a little out of hand.

"Are you okay?" Came StarFan13's voice.

Looking up, she met the brunette's look of concern, which warmed her heart, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just need to catch my breath. You?"

Sweat dripped from the human, all the fighting and running efforts intensified by the weight of the hammer. Her hair was matted to her skin, which bore patches of dirt, and her clothing was scuffed and ripped heavily. Her face turning to a cute smile completed the package, "I'm doing fine. Just exhausted. I never knew you went through this all the time!"

"Well, not this intense _all_ the time."

StarFan13 gave a musical laugh, "Well, I hope not! That was fun and all, but I think I'm going to need a few days to recuperate."

"You... Thought it was fun?" Sure, liking a simple adventures anyone can do. But the over the top ones that Star enjoyed? That took something special.

"Well... Yeah! I got to spend time with you and I really like swinging this thing around." She said, holding it up in one hand impressively.

Star cheekily grabbed the outstretched arm, "Ooo, is that actual muscle tone I'm feeling?"

StarFan13 blushed a little, "Well, probably not, it's only been a few days, but the hammer does feel lighter the more I use it."

The princess stood there for a moment, just smiling and staring at the other girl, before suddenly hugging her, "Thanks for coming out with me again today. I had a lot of fun."

The brunette returned the hug warmly, "I'm glad you brought me."

The two stood still like that for a few moments, neither particularly bothered by the sweat and grime of the evening. It was the human that broke the silence, "Oh yeah, who was calling you back there?"

"Oh!" Star exclaimed, backing up from the hug a bit, "I'm not entirely sure. It sounded like Ludo of all people, but I have no idea how he got my number."

"What'd he say?"

"Something about a schedule and days and stuff. I wasn't really paying attention." She shrugged, "Probably no big deal though."

"Huh, weird."

"I know, right? Anyway, we should probably head back." The princess said, fetching her scissors.

"We should. I need to rest up for this weekend."

"Me too! I can't wait to see what you have planned." Star said, her voice shaking with giddiness.

StarFan13 rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Well, I mean... I tried to think of something fun bu-"

The blonde cut her off with a finger on her lips, "Shh! I want it to be a surprise." Her voice toned down, and she took the other girl's hand reassuringly, "Besides, I'm sure it'll be fun. You'll be there, after all."

StarFan13 felt her heart skip a beat.

* * *

A/N: Another short chapter, but leads into the much larger 4th date, where things get interesting. That will be out in two weeks. I'm also rewriting the prologue chapter, since it's the weakest by far. Thanks to cindermane for correction so many of my mistakes. See you guys next time.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: So sorry for missing yesterday's post date. I completely forgot with how busy life had been. Additional note: I am not watching any of the new Star vs. The Forces of Evil until I finish this story.

* * *

"I still can't believe Ludo didn't show."

"Marco, it's been two days. Get over it and help me!"

A frown appeared on his face, "I don't know, Star. He seemed pretty serious about this. It doesn't feel right." He said, before adding, "And I think you should take the orange one. Easier for drivers to see you in the dark."

Star groaned at his response. "I'm trying to look nice, not worry about every little thing."

"Still saying orange."

She looked between the two outfits, both skirted semi-formal wear. The biggest difference being one was blue and one was orange. She had been endlessly picking out clothes for nearly their entire Saturday. By the afternoon, she had recruited Marco into her decision making, and that was an hour ago. Both were frustrated with her indecisiveness. But the boy was ever patient, and they had narrowed it down to two choices.

The topic of Ludo had been brought up at least a dozen times since Thursday, when he hadn't shown up for his second promised encounter. Star had written it off as Ludo being Ludo, but Marco hadn't been so sure. And with the perceived danger lurking out there, he had brought it up whenever it popped into his head.

"You're still not going to tell me what you're doing? Seems to me like you're going on a date." He said, raising a knowing eyebrow with a smirk on his face.

Star flushed, "What! No!" She cried indignantly, shoving Marco.

He stumbled and chuckled. "Your reaction only proves me right." He teased.

The princess could only grumble for a moment, before gathering her thoughts. "It's not. You just surprised me, is all. But you _are_ right that I'm thinking too much about this... I'll go with the orange one."

The boy smiled gently. His friend looked a lot less stressed out and indecisive now.

Something she was able to notice. She sighed, "Thanks, Marco. I think I needed that. I've been so nervous all day, but you knew just what to say."

With a smile, she gave him a hug, which he returned politely. For a moment, Star got lost in his arms and was going to keep it up, until realization struck her and she backed off in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concern etched on his face.

She looked down at her hands, a look of shame on her face. She quietly hugged her own arms. "I'm... Sorry, Marco. For what I did back then. I'm sorry for being as bad of a friend as I've been to you lately... And I'm sorry, but I'm still not all the way over you yet." The words felt better to admit, but it was helping. "I'm getting better! I know it. I can feel it. Just... Not a hundred percent just yet."

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I get it, Star. I may not understand what you're going through exactly, and it's been a while, sure. But years of safety practice taught me patience." He gave her a kind smile, "If you say you're doing better, I'll believe it. If all it takes is some more time for me to get my best friend all the way back, then I don't mind the wait."

She wiped her eye, "Aww... Thanks Marco. You are just too nice, you know that?"

He laughed, "I get that a lot."

Talking a calming breath, she reached into her purse and pulled out her scissors. "Alright. I'm off. Want a portal before I head out?"

His eyes rolled back as he thought about, "Oh! Mind one to the mall? I gotta do a little gift shopping."

With a flick of her wrist, a portal to a nice hidden spot near the mall opened up. "Tada!"

"Thanks!" He said, but before slipping through all the way, he added, "Good luck on your date!"

"Ugh!" She grunted, throwing a nearby comb through the opening after him. She felt satisfied when she heard Marco's yelp and giggled.

She couldn't wait until she got her best friend back for good.

* * *

The princess found herself at a place near a beach just out of town. The directions she'd been given were meticulously precise, in all the right ways. StarFan13 had asked over the last week how her dimensional scissors worked, and apparently she remembered. The notes accounted for many of the variables involved in making a blind portal to somewhere the user has never been before. A quick glance around told her that there was only one set of shoe prints around, presumably the other girl's.

It must've taken hours. That someone would put so much effort for her... It worried her at first, but now that she could we how much it made StarFan13 happy, it lessened the worry and made her feel... special. In a way that she had never felt before.

An almost shy smile settled on her face. Taking a quick look around, she finally spotted her date not too far off, fussing over her flash cards. She wore her hair in a simple braid this time, down her spine to the small of her back. The hair band she wore was absent, as it was on all their dates. Her clothing was still a little boyish, but it was considerably less so than usual. The Warnicorn Hammer also hung in its collapsed form around her waist for easy access. The whole sight made her smile.

After taking a moment to appreciate the look, Star called out, "StarFan13!"

"O-oh! Star!" Though slightly startled, the way her face lit up was adorable. She whispered, somewhat audibly, "Show time!"

The princess giggled and skipped over to her, "Did I make you wait long? Be honest." She added, a little sternly.

The brunette fidgeted nervously, "O-Only... An hour..." She mumbled out.

Star groaned, "Thank you, but that's too much. We need to work on that. I know you said you're happy like this, but waiting for me can't be that exciting."

"Well, no, but... You- _it's_ worth it."

Star caught the slip, and smiled wider. Taking StarFan13's hand in her own, she asked, "So what'd you plan?"

"N-Nothing too special... You showed me so many beautiful things last time, and I wanted to show you some nice Earth stuff. I didn't really have a way to get what I needed to go some of the nicer places so... Jackie and Janna suggested a nice walk on the beach."

She sounded a little disappointed in herself, and Star couldn't have that. She wrapped up the other girl in her arms. "Don't fret. You just haven't seen how much I love the idea yet!"

The princess's relentless cheer brought a little confidence to StarFan13's stance. With a smile, she said, "Well, I think I know where to take you first then."

Breaking from the hug, the human led this time, grabbing the mewman's hand and walking off. They were quiet, for a time. Walking together, taking in each other's presence and simply enjoying themselves; that was all they needed.

Their feet crunched gently in the sand. Taking note of it, Star started to walk in funny ways. Backwards, forwards, and even in StarFan13's footprints for a time. She wanted to leave behind a funny story for someone to find, one that may leave onlookers more confused than anything. Something they both shared joy in. Eventually, the brunette started to join in as well, her footprints dancing around her partner's. Together, they wrote a tale, and while it would be inevitably be washed away by the tide, it was a story that would be kept forver in their hearts.

It took them nearly an hour to reach their destination. Between the dancing, light chatting, and the building of a couple of sand castles, it had taken them longer than expected. At the completely opposite end of the beach from where they had started, something StarFan13 had deliberately planned, they found a small ice cream shack, owned and operated by a middle-aged man with a warm smile.

He looked to be closing up.

With a gasp, StarFan13 let go of the princess's hand, "I didn't think we'd take so long!" She gathered herself, before speaking to the man at the counter, "Umm... Excuse me?"

He looked to her, and gave a sad smile, "Sorry, little lady. All closed up for the night."

The brunette started to panic a little, wanting this date to go perfectly. Fidgeting a bit, she leaned into the counter. Playing along, he leaned in as well.

Star looked on, a mix of amusement and concern on her face. Her date whispered something to the vendor, and kept shooting looks her way. After a moment, the vendor nodded.

"I understand. Well, you're in luck! I have a late hours policy for cute couples." He said in jest, turning around and pulling out a couple of cones from his storage.

Both girls blushed at his comment, and StarFan13 looked worriedly for a moment, before turning away in embarrassment, and missing the smile on the princess's face.

The two waited in a semi-awkward silence, which was broken by the kindly man holding out two flat-bottomed cones. One was chocolate, and the other rainbow cotton candy. The brunette paid for the ice cream, and grabbed them both.

"I figured you might like this kind." She said holding out the colorful confectionery.

Star's eyes sparkled at the treat, which she took eagerly. She had a lick, and beamed, "It's amazing! Thank you!"

The approval made StarFan13 almost burst with joy.

Grabbing the other girl's free hand, Star shouted a thanks to the vendor and walked them over to a nearby picnic table. She made sure they both sat on the same side.

Quietly, they lapped at their respective ice creams, content in each others company. The silence didn't last, as the blonde found herself enamoured with the ice cream she had. "This is too good. Here! You have to try some!" She said, thrusting the ice cream over to her date.

This startled the brunette a bit, but she smiled. "Oh, sure!" She said, before leaning in and taking a modest bite from the cone. "Mmm! You're right." She added, a hand in front of her mouth as she ate.

Star giggled when the hand came down, spotting a bit of ice cream on the side of StarFan13's face. She licked her thumb, and wiped it off. "You got a lil' something... got it!"

The brunette looked stunned for a moment, before laughing aloud. The other girl joined in as well, and the two shared a simple joy of the moment. They laughter turned to giggles, which turned to a calming chuckle.

With their laughter faded, they were left with the simple joy of each other's presence. A light breeze blew by, sending strands of golden hair into their faces. With a gentle hand, Star brought the errant strands back into line behind her ear, a soft blush beginning to form on her face. Silence lapsed between the two of them, as they simply stared into each other's eyes.

The moment was spoiled, however, when a camera flash startled them. Both girls turned to see who it was, expecting a tourist, or a coincidental friend.

Ghillie was standing there.

And he had scissors.

With a swipe of his hand, he sliced open a portal, and through it came Ludo, a trail of his minions following behind him.

"Star Butterfly! You thought you could get out of the fight by running away? I never took you for a coward." Shouted Ludo, "But no matter. You thought you could flee, but you cannot escape the likes of Lord Lu-"

He was interrupted by a hearty thud, and the sound of one of his minions screaming, mid-flight.

"What the-"

"HOW!" Came StarFan13's shout, as she smashed her hammer into another minion.

"DARE!" A swing came down on a head, knocking another out.

"YOU!" She turned and swung horizontally, sending a poor monster careening into the open portal.

"INTER- _RUPT_!" The hammer crashed through two of her opponents.

"MY!" Half the minions were down now, and Keystone was the next to fall.

"DATE!" A mighty arc sent the remaining minions to the ground, leaving just one more before Ludo.

"WITH!" Another shout, and Linchpin was cast aside, the last thing between the raging girl and Ludo.

" _ **STAR!**_ "

The last thing Ludo saw was the incoming, flat grey side of the hammer.

"Mother." He whispered. A crack echoed out, and the monster lord's screams filled the air, flying off into the distance until he was not but a dot in the sky.

StarFan13 propped the hammer up over her shoulder. The warnicorn horn glinted in the light. Her hair flowed freely in the breeze, the fight having loosened her braids. A heavy breath escaped through her lips, hot from the fight and visible in them evening air. Dust settled all around her, sparkling in the twilight. Her head tipped forward, glasses shining and reflecting the sunset.

Stunned, the princess breathed, "Woah..." as she felt her heart skip a beat.

* * *

"That was amazing!" Star exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air excitedly, "You were all like ka-pow! And that swing, oh my gosh. And! And how you smashed Ludo into the sky like that? So cool!"

The princess had been lavishing StarFan13 with praise for the last twenty minutes, and it definitely wasn't the first time she'd commented on the Ludo thing. The brunette made no effort to protest against it though. She was enjoying every second of it with a blushing grin on her face.

"You've gotten so good with that hammer, I mean- Oh! Lookit, the dock thingy."

With all of the excitement, neither of them had really noticed the passage of time and just how far they had walked since the brief fight. They had wanted to watch the sunset from here, but the beautiful array of colors that was splayed out before them would do just nicely.

StarFan13 sat down first, the princess sitting down next to her, pressing in. A moment later, the brunette felt a hand grab her own, and a blonde head lean against her shoulder. It made her so very, very happy. So happy, in fact, that even made her eyes begin to mist.

The brunette's breath hitched in her throat, her shoulders shaking a little as small tears started to flow down her face. The terrible beauty of the moment getting to her until she couldn't take it anymore. Star noticed almost immediately, looking up to see the crying face of her friend, but before she could speak, the other girl started talking.

"T-These last few weeks... They've been the happiest times of my life." The princess remained quiet, feeling like she shouldn't be interrupting. "When Janna brought the idea up to me, I didn't know what to think. I thought that I was going to mess it up. I mean, why would she pick me? I wouldn't pick me." The grip they shared tightened, but it was hard to say who did it. "I didn't... I didn't even think you'd want too, after what I said to that truth or dare box. B-But you did, and even though these dates were fake," Star's eyes widened considerably at that word, "They've been so nice, but... but have hurt so bad."

The human gripped her chest, the confession having taken a lot out of her. Of course, now a new panic was rising in her chest as the princess let go of her, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean too! I-"

She was cut off by the young Butterfly standing up and shouting, "I can't believe I've been so _stupid_! Argh!"

"All this freaking time I've been only thinking about myself," she continued, "not even thinking about what you must be thinking! Here I am, going through heartbreak over a crush and taking what I could get to get over it, and I didn't even _think_ about how you felt. You straight up told me you had a crush on me! Just... just like I did with..." She trailed off, and buried her hand in her face.

"And what's more?" She continued in a much quieter voice, "I forgot!"

StarFan13 managed to blubber out a, "W-What?"

"Your crush! That these dates were fake!" That deflated the princess somewhat, "Okay, maybe not entirely. The first one, sure, but... I forgot this one was supposed to be just pretend."

The brunette's mouth was dry all of a sudden.

"And worst off, I forgot that you're a human! And because I have this crazy mewman body language, you haven't been able to tell that I like you back!" This was shouted, back turned away from the other girl.

Said girl was dumbfounded and stunned, unsure if what she was hearing was even true. A single statement of utter disbelief tumbled from her lips, "...what."

It seemed to dawn on Star just what she had said, and slowly, she turned around, face flushed red. She took one look at the dumbstruck look on StarFan13's face and gave her a blushing smile. Stepping towards the edge of the dock, she sat down next to the other girl, and cheekily reached into her pocket to steal the flash cards. One by one, she started tossing them behind her, until she found the one she was looking for.

"According to this, first kisses are supposed to happen on the end of the second date." She stated simply. Her eyes rolled up a bit in thought, "Now, first date. That one was fake, sure. Let's see... second date, I think I forgot some of the time. Third date... most of that one. Especially after we left the castle. And this one? All of it." She smiled at that, and tossed the flash card away with the others.

Her head leaned in, just inches away from StarFan13's face. "Now, if I did my math wrong, this is technically the second date. Probably. And do you know what that means?" The breath of the question was hot on the other girl's face.

The brunette's tongue smacked dryly in her mouth as she tried to speak, "I-"

Star interrupted her again, "It means that I get to do this."

Her breath was warm, but as the gap closed between them, the kiss was warmer. A chaste embrace, taken slowly to avoid the clashing of teeth. It was soft, so soft.

Their embrace lasted a mere moment, but to the two of them, it lasted an eternity and an instant all in one.

The princess pulled away first, if only because the other girl was too stunned to move, to even breathe. Looking her over, the blonde reached out and poked the human's side, eliciting a gasp that reminded her to breathe.

StarFan13 took a moment to catch her breath, face flushed redder than it had ever been before. In a state of disbelief, "D-Did you... was that real?"

"Hmm..." Star thought, amusement in her tone, "I dunno... Let's see." She leaned in again, and gave her another quick kiss, "Yup! Feels real to me."

The brunette's voice quaked, her mind simply unable to comprehend what was going on, to believe what was going on. Her eyes started to mist up again, but the accompanying smile told her that it was for a completely different reason, "You... You really like me? Like, _like_ like me?"

"Mmmmmhm." Was all the reply she got.

"And... and... does that mean, you want me to be your girlfriend?" Her voice turned to a whisper, "A-And... you'd be mine?"

"If that's what you want." The princess replied simply.

StarFan13 flushed considerably, which was an impressive feat at this point, "...can I kiss you?"

That made Star smirk, "I dunno. Why don't you try and find out." She said teasingly.

Fidgeting nervously, and ever unsure, the brunette mustered up all of that courage that she could find, and in the blink of an eye, leaned forward and gave Star the tiniest peck on the cheek.

"Pfft." Was the mewman's response, "Come on, you can do better than tha-"

And better the other girl did. Throwing caution to the wind, StarFan13 rushed to close the distance between them and crashed their lips together. Months of pent up feelings and desires were suddenly let loose in a deep and passionate kiss. Star would feel the raw emotion nearly radiating out of it, would feel how badly someone else wanted to be with her, to love her.

And it felt good.

The two lost themselves in the embrace, arms wrapped around one another as feelings neither of them had been able to express properly until now. By the time that they allowed air to flow between them again, it was beginning to get dark.

"This... this is real. This is real!" StarFan13 exclaimed excitedly, as if only believing it for the first time. Tears of joy began to stream down her face, an impossible dream made reality to her.

With a smile that couldn't possibly match the sheer elation of the other girl, Star said, "Yeah, it is."

* * *

A/N: And here we are, the chapter I wrote this whole fic for. Feels good. Thanks again to cindermane over on ffnet for the beta reading! Check them out!


	17. Chapter 17

Ludo came to hours later.

"Uuughgh... Wha happen?" He said, trying to sit up, but a weight on his chest prevented him from doing so.

"Lord Ludo, please, you shouldn't get up too fast. You took a pretty hard hit to your head." Came a voice from above him.

Considering the pain in his skull, he felt inclined to obey the voice. Cracking his eyes open, he spotted Ghillie, his ever trusted spy, who had been the one to keep him down with a gentle hand.

"Oohhh... my aching head." The monster leader groaned out. "Ghillie? Yes, that's right." He said, making sure he remembered that right, "Ghillie, what happened?"

"I regret to inform you that Star managed to fight us off. Or, rather, her new boyfriend did." He paused, "Though his voice was rather high pitched." Neither of the monsters seemed to be able to figure out why.

The memories came rushing back to Ludo's mind. His minions being tossed aside by that... that berserker with the hammer! The image of the mallet coming straight for his face brought on a new wave of headaches.

"So, it seems that whoever Star is with now is far more dangerous than I had anticipated. Did you get any information?"

"I... have failed you, my lord. The collective concussion that everyone suffered, myself included, as well as my camera being smashed, left me with little information to gather. I was simply the first to awaken. I still had your scissors, sir, and opened a portal back to the castle for an emergency evacuation. It took us two hours to find you. It was fortunate that we found you when we did. Some brown, furry, honey-covered Earth beast was inspecting you as a potential food source."

Ludo gulped hard at that little revelation, having gotten out in the nick of time once again. "Thank you, Ghillie. You have proven to be my most loyal and trusted minion. No. Not minion... Friend." He said, eyes shining.

The normally stoic monster's eyes began to sparkle in delight, the praise from his lord swelling him with pride.

Slowly, Ludo started to rise, his injured state beginning to pass. A little medicine would fix what a good nap couldn't. "What of the others?"

The stoicness returned, "They are in medical. They didn't suffer any injuries greater than a normal bout with the princess, thankfully. Your... hammer to body ratio," he said, choosing his words tactfully, "left you with the worst of it."

"I see... good. Let them rest up." Ludo sighed. "This plan went... poorly. I will personally be giving them a week's leave to make up for my mistake."

"But, sir. It was my fault for the faulty information."

"No! I won't let you take the blame for this. I should have realized she was... busy. And this new human has thrown all of my projections off. We can only hope now that this warrior doesn't join her on a regular basis... in fact, I have new standing orders for you."

Ghillie straightened up and saluted, "Sir!"

"First, take a week off." The other monster looked like he was about to protest, but Ludo wasn't having any of it, "You were hit too, and your camera was broken. You're taking a vacation while I get you a replacement. Secondly, you are to follow Star on her extra-dimensional outings if you can, and find out if you can find out if this new human is coming along with her. You'll report back to me when you can. In the meantime, I need to plot a kidnapping." He said, filled with a sudden determination.

The spy saluted again, "Sir!"

The monster lord watched his minion- no, his friend, leave the room. He had failed himself, and worse, his troops. He couldn't allow that to happen again. Brute forcing the issue was starting to get him nowhere, which meant he had to change his plans a little. The kidnapping would still take place, but he would try and force the princess to give herself up peacefully and willingly instead of engaging her. After all, he had heard talk of Toffee nearly crushing Marco to death and getting Star to give up her wand.

It had blown up his castle, after all.

He just had to prove that he could do better than that traitor.

* * *

Sunday morning brought a whole new wave of sunshine and happiness to Star's world. The birds outside were tweeting, the laser puppies were barking and playing just outside of her room. And, best of all, she woke up with the fresh memories of what had happened the night before. Her face flushed as she remembered her first kiss with her new girlfriend, a human girlfriend, which was a prospect that made her terribly giddy.

Once again, Marco was busy with his homework after a busy weekend, trying to cram it in while he could so that he could free up his evening. It left her to bask in her glow alone, for the most part, which was fine with her. She wanted to leave the house as quick as she could anyway. Her lady friend sent her a text late last night asking to meet, and that fresh relationship buzz made her eager to do so.

She made her way to the park, the place where she had confronted the other girl about her obsessions. The place that she had first invited StarFan13 out adventuring. The first time that she really started thinking of the brunette that way. The thought brought a fresh blush to her face and a giggle to her lips.

With her standard outfit on, the one that she normally wore casually, she entered the park. As expected, StarFan13 was already there, waiting for her.

"StarFan13!" She shouted, waving to the girl.

The brunette beamed at the sight of her new girlfriend, the thought of which still had her a little delirious with disbelief and joy. She practically ran over to greet the princess in a hug that showed a daringness that hadn't been there mere days before.

"Star!" The brunette said, "You look... beautiful today." The words had to be tasted first, as they suddenly had new meaning. Fresh waves of elation accompanied them.

The blonde blushed at the words, meaning so much more coming from the other girl. Leaning in, she rewarded the compliment with a small kiss, surprising the other girl.

While StarFan13 was starting to come to terms with actually being in a relationship with her idol, she was still wrapping her head around the princess wanting to do these things with her. Taking her chance, she returned it with another meeting of their lips.

For a few minutes, the two of them simply basked in each other's company, giggling coyishly, and giving each other cutesey compliments. But, before too much longer, the reason that the brunette had wanted to meet up, well, one of the reasons, came to the forefront.

"Hey, Star?"

"Mhm?"

"I have... well, it wasn't going to be any kind of news, really, but after last night, its kind of become bad news."

Star frowned a little, wondering just what she meant by that.

"My family is heading out for a week's vacation to see some family out West," the brunette began tentatively. "I'll be out of school and far away from town for a little while... I didn't think much of it at first, since I was going to be home in time for our date this weekend, but now..."

The blonde understood. A friend going on vacation for a week was fine, especially if you didn't see them every day anyway. One might not even notice their absence for such a short time. But when your brand new girlfriend suddenly had to leave for a week...

The young Butterfly felt an ache in her heart at the threat of absence, but she had an idea though. "Well... do you think you'll be super busy the whole time?"

StarFan13 thought for a moment, "Well, we'll be camping for the most part. It's my grandma's sixtieth, so the whole family is getting together from all over to come and celebrate. But it shouldn't be too bad, why?"

Opening her purse, Star reached inside and pulled something out. Gently, she set it in her girlfriend's hand. "Well... you know how to use these, right?"

Looking down at the thing in her hand, the brunette gasped. It was the princess's pair of dimensional scissors.

"Are you sure? Don't you need these to visit your parents? To go on adventures?"

Star pressed their foreheads together, "I can always talk to mom and dad through the magic mirror. And they have their own scissors. As for adventures... well, you'll just have to come and see me, won't you?" She teased.

StarFan13 was just about to say something, but she was interrupted, "Though, please, spend time with your family, yeah? Don't try to cut things too short because of me. Just, you know, if you have an evening free, hop on over."

That seemed to sober the human up a bit. It was an effort to control her excitement, especially now of all times, but the want to not freak out her girlfriend was a powerful motivator in toning it down. "Well... alright. That sounds fantastic! I really didn't want to be away for very long, and being able to still go out with you every now and then while I'm gone will be great."

The princess' heart swelled at those words. It would be worth being without her scissors for a week for them to be able to see each other throughout it.

"So..." Star began.

"...so?" StarFan13 asked curiously.

"Where are we going first?"

"Oh!" After a moment's thought, she grinned, "Want to see a bunch of old dudes carved into rocks?"

Star gasped, her eyes shining, "Would I!?"

Giving each other a quick kiss, StarFan13 carved open a portal to Mount Rushmore. It was time for an adventure on Earth.

* * *

Jackie stared into Marco's eyes, a look of concentration on her face. Her hand reached out to her left - the boy's eyebrow twitched - she retreated her hand. She was close, she knew it. She licked her lips, trying. Hey boyfriend closed his eyes for a moment, and she took her chance. Like a snake, she reached out and grabbed a mini pig in a blanket, and shoved it into his mouth.

"Mmm. So close." He chuckled.

"Dang it." Jackie said before chuckling a little.

"I was thinking of the cocktail weiners."

"Oh! I was close." She grinned in triumph. "Okay, your turn. See if you can get it right twice in a row."

Jackie closed her eyes, thoughts of some sweet candy corn filling her mind.

The boy seemed to be taking his time with his decision. She could hear him ruffling around a few treats. When she heard the sound of many small candies moving, she had to bite her tongue to avoid giving it away. Another bowl made a noise, telling her he was stuck between the treat she wanted, and the chocolate candy bites.

"Alright, open up." He said, to which she opened a little and stuck out her tongue.

Gently, as Marco always was, she felt something placed on her tongue. "Hot damn, two in a row." She announced with a smile, happily munching on the candy corn.

"Awh yeah! Getting better at this." He cheered in victory.

Jackie grinned at him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Yeah yeah, simmer down." She then cleared her throat, "Now, I have something of a reward for you. Also, because it's Thursday and I almost forgot I had too."

This made him look confused, "Had to what?"

"Marco, would you do me the honor of going on a double date with me?"

The boy perked up a bit, "Absolutely! Though...", His face scrunched up a bit, "with who?"

Jackie looked almost shocked, "You mean... Star hasn't told you yet? I thought she would have by now."

"Star? Oh!" It dawned on him, "Is this why she's been so weird lately? I was giving her her space at first, and then we actually started hanging out as friends again. But then all this week, she's been rushing out the door as soon as she gets home. And as nice as the break from adventures as been, I'm starting to miss them."

"Well, I don't know anything about this week. StarFan13's away and that'd be the only thing I could think of."

"Why StarFan13?"

"Well, strap yourself in, cause this is a bit of a long story, and has to do with the double date. Long story short, to help Star get over you, we set her up on some practice dates; generic stuff to show her how Earth culture and stuff works. To avoid further potential boy problems, at least, that's what Janna kept saying, one of us volunteered to be her date."

"And that was StarFan13." He concluded.

"Right. Couldn't be me for obvious reasons, Janna didn't want too, and Kelly and Pony Head aren't human, which defeated the point. StarFan13 was really gung ho about it, and despite... certain things, I went along with it. I handled her costumes and makeup. They been out four times now, this weekend being the last one."

Marco furrowed his brow, "That... explains a lot, actually. She was keeping a secret, saying I would know eventually. Probably because of this. But..." He hesitated. "Okay, two things: one, I think Star's been taking these dates really seriously and two, are you sure it's a good idea to shove... us, in her face like that?"

"I know it seems kinda harsh, but it's like a final test. Your relationship with you as her friend will never get any better if it's left to fester. It might... suck, sure, but we're hoping that it does the trick. As for that first thing, what do you mean?"

"Well, the dates have been on Saturdays, yeah? For the last four weeks?"

Jackie nodded, and Marco continued, "Well, she actually got me to help her out last Saturday. She spent over an hour trying to pick out the right dress. An hour! I managed to get her to calm down enough to make a choice, but she was panicking pretty hard about making sure it was perfect."

It was Jackie's turn to frown. "That's... Hmm... I might have to have a talk with Janna before this weekend." She sighed, but then stopped and blinked, "Right, that's for later. You still up for the date?"

The boy bit his lip, unsure. On one hand, he wanted to give Star her space, and not flaunt his relationship with Jackie. On the other hand, his girlfriend was telling him that it was probably for the best to try. He really did miss having his best friend around like he used to...

He nodded, "Alright, let's do it." He said, a bright smile on his face.

"That-a-boy." Jackie said, leaning in to give him a quick kiss.

* * *

A/N: An interlude of a sort. Thanks to Cindermane for editing my story! In addition to this, I'm posting a rewrite of chapter 1, and officially moving this story to F/F.


	18. Chapter 18

Sucking face, as StarFan13 had learned, was pretty great. While she had been busy with her family a lot this week while on vacation, having a pair of dimensional scissors made it rather easy to visit her girlfriend.

Her girlfriend. Even now, as she found her pressed against the other girl, the object of her adoration for so long, the reality of it was still setting in. And it was only making her more enthusiastic.

It was Friday night, and her family had just finished driving home in time for the weekend, to rest up and fix their sleep in time for work. While she could have arrived sooner, thanks to the scissors, it would be hard to explain, well, magic to them. They knew she had a girlfriend now, but they didn't know she was an extra-dimensional magical princess quite yet. She was waiting for the right time to drop that on them.

To celebrate her proper return, and the returning of the scissors, the two had gone on adventure together on some far flung dimension with a bunch of desert and beautiful mountain crops. After saving a small village from some rampaging beasts, they found a nice patch of shade under a smooth, relatively comfortable rock spire, and made good use of their adrenaline high.

They both agreed; post-combat making out was the best.

Once the adrenaline wore off, the two calmed down a bit and pulled away from one another, their breath heavy and mixing together.

"That…" StarFan13 said between pants, "was awesome."

Face flushed red, Star nodded. "Can't say I've ever done this before..." Then, in a deeper tone, "but we are definitely doing this again. Soon."

The brunette's heart nearly burst with joy, "I agree."

They stood there for a moment, staring into one another's eyes, just basking in each other. Then StarFan13's phone beeped.

Frowning, she pulled out the offending device and groaned. "Dinner alarm. By now my dad's almost finished cooking..."

Star giggled, "As much as I want everything else to go and take a hike, we probably should head back. I don't want your parents thinking I'm a bad influence." She said with a wink.

"Bad influence? Never!" StarFan13 grinned, "it's not like I'm being whisked away to distant and dangerous places, finding death defying thrills and getting into fights."

They both shared a laugh, "Pretty sure it's fine as long as you don't get into school fights." Said the princess.

"Perish the thought."

Star placed another kiss on the brunette's lips. "Well... As much as I don't want to, I'll open you a portal back home. We both have to get ready for tomorrow, don't we?"

The human took a somber look, "Are you sure? You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

With a shake of her head, the princess responded, "No, I have to. I need to make sure I'm over him. I don't want there to be any questions when it comes to us. I need to be a big girl and deal with it head on!"

StarFan13 beamed, "Alright. I'll be there with you every step of the way!"

The mewman blushed a little, and gave her girlfriend a rewarding peck on the cheek, "Thanks. Oh!" Her eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her, "Think he'll recognize you?"

It took her a moment, but the brunette caught on, "Hmm... Maybe! Though, now that we're together for real, I want to wear a cute dress on a date sometime."

"Of course! Sunday, you can put on your cutest dress, and I'll put on the suit."

StarFan13 giggled, "You don't have too. You can wear whatever you want!"

Star looked confused. "I can? Then why did you all those times?"

The brunette stood there for a moment as their collective mistake dawned on her. She quickly came up with a response, "Well, you had Earth _boy_ problems. So we went with that."

"Does that mean I have to learn about dating Earth _girls_ now?" Not that she wouldn't mind more practice, but why did Earthlings have to be so complicated?

The human just laughed, "No, no. I'm making it a point to keep remembering you're a mewman. I'll teach you anything you might be missing in private."

"In private, huh?" The princess purred, leaning up against the other girl with half-lidded eyes.

StarFan13 hoped that anime nosebleeds were fake at that moment. She gulped hard and tried to say something, but was interrupted by a kiss.

"You're too cute." Star giggled out, before reaching for her scissors and opening a portal. "Come on, can't be late for dinner."

The brunette nodded dumbly. This was the best!

* * *

A little lipstick, and her outfit was complete. Gone were the days of trying to impress someone she fancied to court them. Now, she felt confident in her choices about what her girlfriend would like, which was, admittedly, anything that had to do with her.

She twirled a little, her blue dress swirling around. It reminded her of the outfit her mother made her wear for royal appearances, but with much less... poof. Her hair band was in place, as always, though she double checked to make sure it was secure. Giving herself a pleased smile, she nodded at her own reflection.

Now ready for the evening, she took a deep breath, and made her way downstairs, dread filled the pit of her stomach.

The plan was for both her and Marco to leave at the same time, to save on transportation. She'd give them a portal to pick up Jackie and StarFan13, and then walk to a fancy restaurant like normal people.

She saw him, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. A handsome smile on his face. He looked dashing in his rental tuxedo. She had once dreamed of walking down these exact stairs to this exact sight; only, in her dreams, he reached out and kissed her hand before taking her on a date. And yet, there was no hand reaching, no lips touching her glove. They were going out together, but not _together_. He was going with Jackie, and she with-

She suppressed a groan and put a hand to her face. She hated this feeling. She was going out with StarFan13 now! And yet she still wasn't completely over the boy in front of her. She hated herself for feeling like this, even after all this time. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Star, you okay?" Marco asked.

The princess looked at the genuine concern on his face and almost melted. Then she scrunched her face tight, "Yeah, I'm fine, Marco. Sorry, just a bit of a headache." She said, before walking down the stairs.

"Are you still up for tonight?" He was planning on going anyway, he wasn't about to cancel a fancy reservation, but he wanted to make sure his best friend was going to be alright.

Taking a moment, Star pulled out her phone and opened it, tapping away at it until she found her new favorite gallery. Pictures of her and StarFan13 during the last week of being officially a couple filled it. A smile graced her face at the memories. It helped to galvanize her resolve. She wasn't doing this just for herself; she had to be the best girlfriend she could be, and she couldn't do that the way she was now.

"I am. Don't worry about it." She said, a genuine smile on her face.

Marco perked up, "Great! This should be fun."

Pulling out her dimensional scissors, the princess opened a portal to Jackie's house, their respective dates waiting for them there. "Yeah..." She sure hoped so.

* * *

Star stood nervously in front of the door beside Marco. The thoughts of the evening to come plaguing her mind and filling her with doubts about the date. She was terrified that her feelings for Marco weren't completely quelled, for no reason other than the jeopardy that it put her new relationship in. She really liked StarFan13, a lot, and loved being girlfriends with her. She didn't want to ruin it.

Tonight felt like do or die. Either she got over this and lived happily ever after, or she ruined a great thing before she ever had time to explore it.

Her worries we're pushed aside a bit once the door opened.

Jackie had done a good job on herself. She wore a light-green skirted outfit that looked rather cute, and her makeup was on just right. But it was StarFan13 that stole the majority of her attention.

Like they had planned, the brunette had been dressed up one last time. Her hair had been tucked into itself, giving her a short, combed appearance. A full suit tuxedo, similar to the one Marco was wearing, very similar in fact, covered her body. She looked sharp, and handsome. Star found it to be quite attractive, but there was something wrong with it, something she couldn't place.

The outfit looked perfect, but it didn't feel perfect.

Marco broke the silence first, "Jackie! You look amazing! And uhh... StarFan13?" He asked, immense doubt filling his voice.

The girl perked up, "You got it!" Her voice made it a dead giveaway.

"Wow, Jackie wasn't kidding." He turned his attention toward his girlfriend, "You're really good at this."

Jackie took a short bow. "I try."

Extending her hand, StarFan13 bowed slightly, "Mi'lady. Shall we be off?"

Star giggled and grabbed hold, "We shall!"

As the two headed off, hand in hand, Jackie and Marco looked at one another amusedly, before mimicking the other two word for word, and joining them in the trip.

* * *

The walk to the restaurant was, thankfully, quite short. Twenty minutes of the couple's walking brought it into sight, which was about critical mass of what Star could take of Marco and Jackie whispering to each other cutely. Holding on to StarFan13's hand was the only thing keeping her together.

"Umm... Star?" The brunette asked, "you're holding on a little tight."

The princess jumped a little, and immediately relented her grip. "Sorry! Sorry, just..." She took a deep breath, "I'm fine!"

StarFan13 was entirely unconvinced, and for good reason. She leaned in and gave her girlfriend a light peck on the cheek. "It'll be okay. I know you, and I know that you'll get through this."

The blonde sighed wistfully, a small smile gracing her face. Her girlfriend's eyes shined with genuine concern, and for just a moment, she found herself lost in them. Maybe she could do this after all.

"Hey guys, we're here." Jackie said.

And Star found herself back to the reality that was her current situation. She made sure not to tense her hand though.

From the looks of things, this place was certainly fancier than where she'd gone on their second date. It was like something out of the movies, and she was certain it was going to cost a pretty penny.

"This place seems a little expensive, doesn't it?" She asked out loud.

"Don't worry about it. My uncle owns this place, and he's giving me the family discount." Jackie said, flashing a grin to the rest of their group.

Slowly, they made their way through the line to be seated. Turns out, there had been reservations made and everything! This was reminding her of some of the pomp and circumstance from back home with royals. She idly wondered if this was how Earth royalty did their business.

Soon enough, they were seated by a man dressed like the butlers Star had seen on television. She and StarFan13 we're on one side of the table, while Jackie and Marco were seated on the other. As this date was meant for her to face her troubles head on, the boy had been deliberately seated across from her.

This was it. She was going to have to face Marco for who knew how long, all the while his relationship with Jackie was splayed out before her. She felt a tightening in her chest already.

Marco decided to be the one to break the silence, "So, Jackie's kind of filled me in on what's been going on. Why don't you tell me about these practice dates of yours?"

* * *

A/N: Thanks to cindermane once again for the beta read!

This is it. The fifth and final date. I finally have an ending to this story. Chapter 21 will be the last. It's been a wild ride. 10 months of work into this one story. Damn. I didn't think I'd make it, but lo and behold, here I am. Chapter 20 is halfway finished, and I already have the outline and finale planned.

Thanks for reading, guys. Even if you are a quiet bunch. :)


	19. Chapter 19

The conversation about the dates had quickly derailed, as conversations are wont to do. When they'd begun talking about the second date, the topic of Jackie's skills having fooled the waiter had come up, and things naturally moved around from there. The skater girl's fashion skills had only been the first of many topics covered.

It took all of Star's will power to last as long as she did. Watching Marco and Jackie flirting openly during their conversation had very quickly eroded her patience. By the thirty minute mark, just when they food was being served, the princess had become a tense little ball of nerves and stress.

Despite everything, her heart still ached, though much less than before, for the boy across from her. What accelerated her frustration was her own conflicting thoughts. She was dating someone else now, and yet, here she was, a part of her still pining for Marco. It filled her with a self-loathing the likes of which she hadn't experienced before.

Her tense demeanor didn't go unnoticed either. While Marco and Jackie might have been well occupied with each other, StarFan13's attention was, more than ever before, on Star. It wasn't hard to tell what was going on, considering the entire purpose of the dates that eventually brought them together. A few times in the last half hour, she had tried to comfort or console her girlfriend in some way, but everything she did felt so temporary. Seconds after a gentle touch, or a soft reminder, and the blonde was back to unsubtly staring at the only boy at the table. It filled the pit of her stomach with an awful, dreadful sensation; doubt.

Was this really mutual? Did Star really like her, or... Was she just the rebound? Or worse, just someone to tide things over until the situation got better.

StarFan13 wasn't a stranger to self-doubt and other such sensations, but this was the first time it had meant so much.

Things took a turn when the waiter brought them their food. His presence startled the princess, and that seemed to be the last rush of stress hormones to break her spirit.

In a poorly disguised rush, she got up from the table, "Excuse me." She said, and hurried off, leaving a confused looking waiter, and very sad looking friends.

"Damn... I guess this didn't work, did it?" Jackie asked, a defeated tone to her voice

Marco wore his sadness on his sleeve, "I really thought... I really messed up, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't, babe. We just didn't give her enough time. That's on us, not you." She said, referring to herself, Janna, and StarFan13.

The couple seemed to notice the brunette all of a sudden, and saw the tears pricking at her eyes. The kind hearted boy was the first to jump to action, "Hey, StarFan13, what's wrong?"

"I-I..." She stuttered, her voice wavering intensely as she came close to crying. Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wasn't going to just roll over and let this happen. "I'm fine. Excuse me, I need to talk to Star."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jackie asked.

The brunette silenced her with a look, something fierce in her eyes. With conviction, she left the table, chasing after her girlfriend.

"Well... I hope she knows what she's doing." Said Marco, "Should we leave, or...?"

The skater shook her head, "Nah. I'm not letting this food go to waste. For some reason, I actually think StarFan13 can make this right."

Marco certainly hoped so.

* * *

The door to the bathroom swung open silently. It was, thankfully, empty. Except for the blonde crying at the sink, and the brunette who had just made her entrance.

StarFan13 just stood there for a moment, just watching the scene.

"Stupid... Stupid stupid stupid!" Star cried, punching the counter with each iteration of the work, a choking sob bringing an end to her words for a moment. "All you had to do... Just sit there... Oh, StarFan13..." She finished, moaning out the name in despair.

That brought the brunette closer. Star seemed to be regretful of her feelings... Maybe there was a chance for them. Slowly, she put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, "Star..."

The princess jumped at the sudden touch, and turned to the human, "StarFan13! Oh my gosh, I'm so, so sorry." She said, wrapping her arms around the girl and burying her head in her shoulder. "I shouldn't have come tonight. I... I shouldn't have put you through that."

The brunette put her hand around the sobbing teen, rubbing her back gently. Any doubts in her mind had cleared at those words. "Star... It's okay."

She pulled back, tears still streaming her face, "No! No it's not okay. It's been so long an-and I'm dating you now, and I want to be with you, but these stupid feelings just won't go away and I'm scared of what that means."

The raw emotion in the room was making StarFan13's eyes begin to mist. Grabbing a sheet from the dispenser, she gently dabbed away her girlfriend's tears. "What that means, I think... Is that we humans and you mewmans have a lot more in common that you think." That seemed to get Star's attention, "People don't have any real control over how they feel sometimes. Feelings can't just spring out of nowhere or be turned off like a light just because you want them too. You really liked Marco for a long time, and, as much as it pains me to say, those feelings won't just go away overnight just because we started dating. Am I jealous? Heck yeah! But that's just another involuntary thing. I can't completely understand what you're going through, but I trust you.

"You aren't the kind of person that'd be unfaithful. Even if your heart is being torn in two directions right now, I don't mind. I mean, I never thought I'd have any part of your heart, let alone as much as I do now. If it means waiting a few months more for the rest of it, well..." She smiled gently, cupping Star's face and giving her a light kiss, "I don't mind waiting, as long as it's with you."

Star's heart almost burst, and fresh tears began trickling down her cheeks, their bitter sting having been sweetened.

StarFan13 wasn't done though, "For so long, I've seen you as the strongest person in the world. And I still do. Things may look a little bad right now, confusing even. But, I know you. You're stronger than this. You're Star freaking Butterfly! Princess of Mewni! Interdimensional hero and troublemaker! You faced down the likes of Toffee, not once, but twice! This is nothing compared to those things. The only difference is that you can't just shoot rainbows at it to make it go away. You just need to fight in a way you haven't before. Not with magic and muscle, but with your head, and your heart."

The princess let those words sink in. She wiped her eyes free of tears and sniffed sharply. "Yeah.. you're right. I haven't felt like myself in ages because of this. But... I've been looking at it all wrong. I can fight this, I just don't think I knew how to before." She looked into her girlfriend's eyes, into her soul, "Thank you, StarFan13."

Leaning in, the two shared a kiss unlike any they had before. Filled with not only their fresh passions of a new relationship, but something that held a deeper meaning between the two. Something more.

Looking up at the brunette's face, which had a pretty smile, Star frowned a little, "Hmm..."

"What?" StarFan13 asked.

"Well... As much as I appreciate Jackie's work, she missed a few touches that make you, you. And... I want to be here, on a date, with _you_."

Star pulled out her scissors, and cut open a quick hole in reality. "One second." She said, hopping through. A few moments later, she returned, a makeup kit in hand.

StarFan13 gave her a strange look.

The princess patted the bathroom sink counter, "Hop up."

The brunette did as she was told, still looking rather confused. But she trusted the other girl, who promptly got to work.

Opening the kit, Star pulled out a small brush. She flicked open the pink coloring, but only for a moment. After a second thought, she instead opened the yellow coloring. Dipping her brush inside, she got to work on StarFan13's face.

It only took a couple of minutes, moving from one cheek to the other, for the princess to finish. Helping her girlfriend down, she turned her around to appreciate her work.

The brunette gasped lightly. Instead of the pink hearts she had drawn on messily to emulate her idol, a pair of perfectly drawn stars adorned her face.

"Not bad... But it's still missing something." The blonde said. Pretending to think about it for a moment, she moved in and undid the weave Jackie had used to make the brunette's hair short. With the hair now free, Star reached up, and removed her devil horn hair band from her head, and carefully placed it on her girlfriend's own.

"There." She said simply, resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder, appreciating their reflection.

StarFan13 was at a loss for words. No more was her old, papier mache band. Now, she had the real deal, given to her by the one she looked up too most in the world. She had to wipe her eyes quickly to avoid ruining the paint on her cheeks.

With a small smile, Star Butterfly said, "Perfect."

* * *

"Bleeeeh... I'm sorry, Jackie. I just can't get that out of my head. I feel so guilty about it." Marco whined, having tried and failed to get into the no-longer-double date. He'd barely managed to touch his food, the other couple's order sitting untouched across them as a stark reminder.

Jackie sighed, "Yeah... Me too, actually. I didn't think this would backfire this bad... ly..." She trailed off, her jaw hanging limply.

"Jackie?" Marco asked, before looking at what made his girlfriend look like a deer caught in headlights.

Despite having his suspicions, he was still shocked at what he saw.

Star and StarFan13 were both returning to their seats, which wasn't that odd. What was odd was that the latter had gotten some face paint done. Oh, and the way they were walking.

Each girl had their arms around each other's waists, not an inch of space between them. Their gait was sluggish, but only because they were too busy looking at one another, and carrying on with what was obviously a very flirty conversation. The way they emphasized words with light touches and soft caresses told volumes of what was going on.

The two eventually made it back to their seats, each holding out a chair for the other, before giggling and sitting down in their respective chairs. Though this time, it was StarFan13 that sat in front of Marco.

Baby steps.

"I want to apologize to the both of you. I've been... Really immature tonight, and, yes, I'll admit it. I'm not entirely over you yet, Marco. But I'm gonna be taking a bit more time to do it that anyone, myself included, would really like. Not the best solution, but it's the one I've got for now. And I have StarFan13 to help me along the way." She said, turning to look at her girlfriend at those last few words.

The brunette giggled and leaned in, giving the blonde a kiss on the cheek, "For as long as you need, babe."

Star giggled, and Marco smiled. Jackie was still dumbfounded.

"Congratulations you two! You're officially a couple, then?" Said the only boy at the table.

They both nodded enthusiastically.

Jackie found her voice, "Really? Since when?"

"Last week, today. Turns out my wonderful princess here started forgetting the dates were just for practice." StarFan13 then giggled, "The actual story is a bit longer than that, but I'll tell you later."

The skater girl still didn't entirely believe it. Looking her friends in the eye, she took on a look of concern. "This is for real, right? Not a prank, or... a rebound or..." She couldn't think of anything else to say that wouldn't come off as grievously insulting Star.

"Jackie!" Marco scolded.

"No, Marco, she's right to ask." The princess looked to Jackie. "This is very much real. I've come to really like StarFan13, as more than just a friend. We've been together only a week now, but I really want to see where this relationship takes us. And, just in case you still aren't convinced of my completely noble intentions with this girl."

The princess then grinned, and locked lips with StarFan13 right then and there, not to prove a point like she said, but simply because she wanted too. That told Jackie more than words ever could.

"Well... Wow, I never..." She stopped herself, "I mean, I'm very, very happy for the both of you then. Especially you, StarFan13. You go girl!" She said raising hand.

A most righteous high five was exchanged, much to the annoyance of the other patrons at the restaurant.

Quieting down, the date continued. Star actually joined in on the conversation, telling a short version of her side of how she and StarFan13 had begun dating. She even managed to talk to Marco through the night without any incident.

All in all, the final date had been a good one.

* * *

A/N: So, I've finished writing the story at this point. It's done. Just a matter of posting the last one in two weeks.

I tried watching Season 3 of Star Vs. now that I've finished it, and I'm glad I waited. I might have abandoned the story if I had. I find the StarCo nonesense to be very painful to watch in Season 3, especially the hoodie episode. God that was creepy.

Thank you all for sticking with me. :)

Shouts out to Cindermane for the beta reading and editing!


	20. The End

Things had been delightfully quiet for nearly two weeks, much to Ludo's delight. After the beating his men had received, they all needed some time to reassess the situation, and just recover in general.

He had been sending Ghillie out on numerous missions of espionage, trying to figure out more about this new player in his plots against Star. What had been troubling him, however, was word of another force brewing over the horizon. Talks of large amounts of troops of all kinds were being gathered, in numbers that dwarfed his own. He had trust in the quality of training he had his monsters going through, but good training can only do so much against vast hordes.

While Ghillie had been invaluable in finding this information out, the identity of the leader was still unknown. Ludo was not happy about the new competition in the villainous department, and was becoming increasingly desperate to get his hands on Star's magic wand. Having such a weapon would certainly even the odds stacked against him. This fact alone made him want it more than ever.

The new mystery boy that Star had begun dating was proving to be too difficult to tie down, seemingly vanishing without a trace after the thorough beating he had delivered. The fact that he could return at any time was proving to be quite... distracting.

To say the least, having so many hiccoughs in his plans had been quite stressful on the little monster lord.

Which was why he was moving his schemes forward much more quickly than he normally would have liked. He didn't have all of his bases covered yet, but as he looked over his plans, there were so few variables that could ruin things that he felt it worth the risk, especially with ever looming threats approaching.

He gnawed on his pencil again, going over the plan one more time, before angrily scrunching it up and tossing it aside. His frustrations had gotten the better of him.

"I can't wait anymore... I must have that wand!" He shouted to the air.

Then, against the wishes of his advisors, he sent the order. It was time to get what he wanted at last.

* * *

StarFan13's life couldn't be going any better. In the week since the double date, she and Star had gotten to spend all kinds of time together. They'd even become the talk of the school for a few days, before the ever changing high school gossip mill moved on to something else. It was nice while it lasted, and she had to admit she wouldn't be able to tolerate it if it had gone on much longer, but her fifteen minutes of fame had been fun.

Dating Star required a lot more work than she thought it would, though. She never could have guessed how much more she needed to eat on the regular since she started swinging her hammer around while out on adventures. It had honestly been exhausting at first, but once her body started getting used to it, it went from being fun by proxy of the princess, to just fun all by itself.

Never did she think that taking a weapon with her everywhere would become normal, and yet, she wouldn't leave her house without her warnicorn hammer on her person anymore.

It was funny how fast things changed around her girlfriend.

School had just ended for the week, and as usual, she walked home, while Star and Marco went back to their place. They always went home first, to finish their homework, before meeting up later in the evening for adventures, or just hanging out with their friends. After both she and Star had been late and failed their science homework a few days ago, they made a promise to each other to deal with school first, if only to avoid stressing out about it when they spent time together.

Things had been going so well for her lately, that it was about time for something to come and ruin her day.

The faint scent of sleeping powder was her only warning, a smell she wasn't entirely familiar with. Her eyes started to droop, and slowly she fell into surprisingly gentle arms. Before her consciousness faded, she could swear she'd been caught by a giant bush.

* * *

The light that invaded her eyes made her head pound. Her eyes squeezed shut reflexively, a groan escaping her extremely dry throat. A moment later, she realized that something was blowing very warm air at her. It wasn't sweltering, but miserably dry.

She smacked her lips a few times, trying to get a little moisture brewing to ease her discomfort. Slowly, she began to open her eyes.

She was greeted with a splash of water in her face.

Sputtering, her eyes shot wide open. Her glasses had taken the brunt of the water, but were nearly impossible to see through anymore. She shot about, looking for anything close by, only to find her movement was drastically limited.

Her arms were tied to her sides.

"Good, you're awake." Came a horrible little voice that had burned its way into her mind.

"Ludo!?" She called out, turning and catching a glimpse of a green blob nearby.

"That's Lord Ludo to you!"

She shook her head, trying to get the moisture on her glasses to go away. The hot breeze blowing at her was helping. "Where am I?"

"You're in my castle, human! Completely at my mercy!" He said with a bit too much glee, before letting out a maniacal laugh.

StarFan13 grunted and struggle against her bindings, "Just you wait until I get out of this! You'll be sorry!" After all, she had beaten him once before, though he didn't know that.

"I think you'd prefer to _not_ be free, considering what would happen should you break your ropes. Why don't you take a quick look down?"

"What?" She asked, wondering just what he was on about. She looked down, as asked, and thankfully, her glasses were mostly dry by now. Or, maybe not thankfully, as what she saw would have chilled her to the bone, had it not been so hot.

Below her, about thirty feet down, was a bubbling cauldron of some kind of green substance. A fan, the source of the wind from earlier, was blowing away a column of heat rising from the surface. She could feel the warmth rising up, and she knew that if not for the fan, she might be baked alive!

"Do you like it? I mixed a bunch of nasty stuff that I found all over Mewni in there. Oh, and I saw you sweating, so I added the fan. You're welcome!" He added, striking a little pose and feeling quite proud of himself.

"Well, okay, the fan is kinda nic- Wait!" She shook her head, "No! You're a jerk!"

Ludo actually seemed offended. "Well now, there's no need for name calling.

"Of course there is! You have me tied up above a boiling pot of doom! And you kidnapped me!" She cried, struggling to see if she could move her hands.

It soon became apparent, however, that her warnicorn hammer was no longer on her person.

The monster grinned, "Looking for this?" He asked, dangling the horn, the hammer's compact form, in his hand.

"Give that back!"

"Don't take me for some kind of fool. I don't know how you got a hold of a warnicorn's horn, but I'm not letting you have anything sharp or pointy!" He said, pointing the horn like a dagger, "you'll cut yourself loose and try to stab me or something. No no, much too dangerous. Besides, just looking at it gives me a headache for some reason."

StarFan13 looked confused for a moment. Did he not remember her beating him up?

Ludo stowed away the horn before continuing, "Now. Please do sit tight. You might be in for a long wait."

"No! Just _you_ wait! Star is going to notice I'm gone, and she's going to come for me!"

"I should certainly hope so! I mean, that's why I brought you here after all. You're the bait!" He said, a look of glee on his face. "Once she gets here, I'm going to threaten to cut you down, _without_ moving the pot of course. Then she'll give me her wand! It worked for Toffee, so why shouldn't it work for me?"

The girl's eyes widened considerably. Being used against her girlfriend like this was almost sickening to her. A small panic began to well up inside of her chest at the thought that after all this time, after all they'd been through, she might be the one responsible for Star losing her wand.

The monster lord grinned mischievously, "So you see my genius, then?" He let out a villainous laugh, before devolving into a fit of coughs. A moment later, he mumbled "Ack! I think I need to see my voice coach again...

"Ahem, now, human. I have a small question to ask you."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Yes, yes, they all say that. Anyway, perhaps you could tell me when you think Star might notice you gone? I have plans to keep you here for a few days, but I want to get an idea of when I should have the men get ready, and if we have time enough for fajita night."

"Days!? I have to go to the bathroom at some point, you know!"

"Oh... well, I hadn't quite thought about that... I suppose if I place some sentries around, we could escort you to the toiletries a few times if need be..." He said, musing to himself as he stroked his chin in thought.

StarFan13's stomach rumbled a little, "And food. I skipped lunch for my date tonight."

"Right! Right, we have some corn, that won't be a problem... wait, date? Oh umm..." He actually felt a little bad about that. "Well... Ah! If I get the wand, how about I set up a nice little apology for you and your... umm..." He fought to find the right word, his knowledge of humans rather limited.

"Star."

"Yes, you and your... Star... Star. Star!? Y-You don't mean..." He asked, seeming to be quite nervous at this point.

"Yes. Star. That Star. We were going on a dinner date tonight."

"B-But... what about that crazy fellow with the hammer? The-the-" He reached into his robes, and pulled out a series of pictures, ones of Star and StarFan13 on their dates.

The ones that had her dressed as a boy.

"That's me in an outfit! And the horn is my hammer! Also, you've been stalking us!?" She asked incredulously.

"Military reconnaissance!" He retorted, "I have to get you down as soon as possible! I apologize for the inconvenience. You'll be brought back to Earth post haste, and hopefully Star won't have noticed!"

Now the hostage was confused, "You're starting to freak me out a bit here. I thought you wanted to use me to get Star's wand?"

"I wanted one of her friends! Not her girlfriend! Ghillie's been watching for me to help pick one of you who she liked, but not enough to go ballistic over it! When Toffee locked Marco in a death box, she blew up my castle! You are much too risky to have here."

He was just about to bark orders to get StarFan13 released, when his castle started to rumble.

"Oh no."

* * *

Star hummed happily as she and Marco made their way back home. It was getting easier for the two of them to spend time together, and just be friends again. It was a welcome change of pace from the months prior, which had them both in misery.

"Excited for tonight, Star?" Marco asked politely.

"You bet'cha! I found this wicked restaurant a few dimensions over that Kelly showed me. I went in for a quick snack and it's so goooood." She replied, grinning wide.

Her face fell a moment as she checked her phone.

Concern etched itself across Marco's face. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's StarFan13... She always answers my texts almost immediately, unless I catch her in the middle of something. But it's been almost thirty minutes now since I've heard from her."

Marco frowned. From what he knew of the obsessive girl, this _was_ really strange. "Maybe you should pop over and make sure everything's alright?"

The princess bit her lip, "You think that's going too far?"

The boy shrugged, "What constitutes too far around you is pretty subjective. I always vote on the side of caution though."

"Yeah... Yeah, you're right. This is far from her normal. If I'm not back in five minutes, well..."

She reached into her purse for her dimensional scissors, and cut open a portal to her girlfriend's front door. She leaned in and poked her head through to get a peek.

Ghillie was standing there, sticking a note to the door. He jumped as he heard a gasp from behind him.

"Uhh..." He uttered, before panickedly searching himself for his own scissors to flee the scene.

Star saw red. Blindly reaching, she grabbed Marco's arm and hauled him through the portal she'd made along with the rest of her own body.

"Whoa! Star! What's the mat- Hey!" He cried out as he spotted Ghillie there, having heard a few stories about the monster by now.

* * *

Fist and wand were inches away from readiness as the scrambling Ghillie managed to find what he was looking for and opened another rift in reality, this one pointing directly towards Ludo's castle.

However, he wasn't fast enough to stop the two angry teenagers from following him through.

"Uh oh..." He uttered, before running into the doors of the castle, "close the doors! Close the doors!"

Scrambling to obey the monster's commands, the others on the parapets started to pull up the chains that drew up the moat bridge. This did little to stop the encroaching ball of rage that was invading their castle.

* * *

Star was furious as she looked at the castle that had something to do with StarFan13's disappearance. She might have been able to logic out that she should have at least read the note Ghillie had been in the process of sticking to the door, but she wasn't entirely in her right mind at the moment. The hearts on her cheeks had a faint glow to them as her magic gathered in her wand. Without incantation, she thrust it forward to let loose a blast of raw magical energy, which blew the raised door to splinters.

Grabbing Marco by the collar, she cast a levitation spell on them both, and jumped with all of her might. The two sailed through the opening in the door. Their feet impacted the stone floors beneath them, clacking out loudly.

"Star? I think you should calm down a bit." Marco said, trying to help.

Instead of replying, the angry princess simply sent out a blast with her hand at an incoming group of monsters, sending them sprawling out in their ambush spot.

The boy sighed, "This is not going to end well."

He followed along, the trail of destruction a little disturbing. Things were blown apart - monsters were beat up - more than usual. Star was on a warpath the likes of which he hadn't seen since Toffee.

"Lord Ludoooo!" A monster cried, grabbing the attention of the teens, as he ran towards a large stone double door. A smaller door embedded within the larger opened up, allowing passage. This proved to be a rather big mistake, as now the princess knew exactly where she was going.

A flick of her wand, and the paltry seals that kept the door closed were blasted aside, throwing the door wide open.

Going in, she had expected to see a scene similar to the time Marco had been taken by Toffee, locked in a magical box that could shrink on command. What she saw instead was StarFan13 running right for her.

"Star!" The brunette shouted, almost leaping into the blonde's arms.

"StarFan13!" Came the reply, as they embraced one another.

The princess grabbed her girlfriend's face, showering her with kisses as the adrenaline continued to cloud her mind, "Are you okay?" She asked, still peppering her face with little kisses.

"Yes I'm- Star. Star!" The human exclaimed, grabbing the other girl by her cheeks and looking into her eyes, "Calm down, Star. You have no idea how much it means to be that you'd do this for me, but there's no need for anyone else to get hurt today, okay?"

"Hurt!? Did he hurt you?" Star asked, looking the other girl over for injuries.

"I'm fine! I'm fine. Just warm, and a little hungry. I'm okay. Alright?" She asked, stroking her girlfriend's cheek to try and calm her down a bit.

"You're fine... You're fine. Okay." The princess replied, visibly beginning to calm down, the strain of her rampage starting to catch up to her a little bit.

"Once Ludo realized what he'd done," StarFan13 snickered, "you should have seen his face. He was downright terrified when he found out you were dating me, and not some random Earth boy with a hammer."

"What? I- Oh." Star pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Really? Really!"

"Yes, really. He knew you'd level his castle, so he let me go."

"I wasn't going to-"

StarFan13 silenced her with a finger, "You were going to level his castle. I could see it on your face."

The princess slumped a little, realizing that her girlfriend was right. Maybe she should take some anger management classes. Or at least find a way to stay calm under pressure.

"Is it safe to come out now?" Came a meek voice from deeper in the room.

The human girl frowned and gave a rather rude gesture towards the voice, though only the other human in the room understood the significance. Ludo instead interpreted it as a pass to leave his hiding place.

Star's frown returned almost immediately, hand gripping her wand tightly, but the monster lord spoke first, "Wait! Don't! I'm... s-sorry!" He said, the words coming off with a little bit of revulsion for having said them, "Look, I'm still trying to find my identity as a villain over here. I thought a kidnapping might work, but I clearly see now that it doesn't. I-I promise that I won't try something like this again! And! And tell her!" He added, pointing towards StarFan13.

Said girl rolled her eyes and said, "He's also offered to foot the bill for our next THREE dates."

"Three!? I-" He shut up as two still angry girls glared at him, "Ah... yes, three. Of course."

Star sighed, "Alright... Let's get out of here then. Maybe we can still salvage the evening." She then turned to Marco, "Sorry for dragging you along with this. I kind of went on auto-pilot for a little bit there."

The boy simply shrugged, "It's okay, Star. I understand. I was pretty into the whole rescue thing for a bit there too. I'm just glad everything worked out for the better this time around."

Of course he had to say it.

"Lord Ludo!" A monster shouted into the room, his limbs flailing about, "they're coming!"

The monster lord sighed and facepalmed, "Yes, I know. They're right here."

"Not them, the other ones!"

"What!?" Ludo shouted, which got everyone's attention. "Are you certain?"

"I saw it! On the horizon! An army of them. All with the red spade banners."

Star's blood went cold.

"Send everyone to their posts! Get the construction crew repairing the damage to the outer walls first. Load up the parapets with everything we have!" Ludo barked, his focus returning with the new danger that he felt he could handle.

"Did... did he say, 'red spade'?"

This got the monster's attention, "Yes, you know something?"

"That... that's Eclipsa."

"Who?"

"I-I don't know much about her. Only what my mom told me. She was a Queen of Mewni who was supposed to be locked up and away in the Crystal Dimension forever. Mom said that she might be able to get out one day but... I didn't think..." Star uttered, a bit of terror filling her voice.

Ludo's jaw dropped slightly at what was said. He didn't know who he was dealing with. His face then screwed up in thought. A moment later, he sighed, "This seems to be as much of your problem as it is mine. I'm not a fool. I know I won't be able to stop her. Not on my own. What chances do you think you have on your own?" He asked.

Star didn't really have an answer to that.

"We have a few hours, at best, before they get here. It may be in both of our best interests if we put aside our differences, call in everyone we know, and... eugh. Work together."

The princess felt a hand get placed on either of her shoulders. Looking quickly, she saw that it was both StarFan13 and Marco on either side of her.

"I may still be pretty new to this adventuring and saving Mewni business, but I know you can do this, Star. I'm with you on this." Said StarFan13.

"Me too. It looks like it's time to save Mewni again."

Star smiled, "You guys..." She took a deep breath, "Yeah. Yeah, we got this."

She grabbed her scissors. "We need to find help. You said we have a few hours, Ludo?"

"Considering how far away I can see from the lookout tower, if they're on foot, then yes." He replied.

Things may be different now, in ways she couldn't possibly imagine. Her crush had become her best friend again. Her biggest fan had become someone so much more special to her than either of them had thought could happen. Her one time foe had grown as first a villain, and now an ally through desperation. An all new villain approached from the horizon.

Another chapter in the life of Star Butterfly, Princess of Mewni.

And she was ready for it.

* * *

A/N: This is it, the last chapter.

This has been a wild ride. I know not many have read this, but I wanted to see if I could finish a project. That, and I wanted StarFan13 to have a moment. A win.

I no longer really like the show, the whole StarCo thing is handled badly. I'm not saying that I don't like the show because of the pairing, just that Disney handled it badly and it's very painful to watch.

There isn't really much more to say, so here's a couple of shout outs:

Shouts out to the glorious cindermane, without whom this story would be of a far worse quality than it already was. Thank you so much for all the editing.

And Shouts out to jamessunderlandspillow, with whom I've made fast friends and a huge supporter of my upcoming original novel currently in progress.

Thank you, to those who have read this. Be happy, be kind. Be good people. :)


End file.
